I. Theory
1. Attachment Theory in Development and Clinical Practice with
Adolescents
2. The Legacy of Developmental Trauma in Adolescence
3. Interpersonal Neurobiology and Co-Regulation of Affect
II. Developmental–Relational Therapy
4. Developmental–Relational Therapy with Traumatized Teens
5. Attachment Styles: Transference and Countertransference
Revisited
6. Getting Hooked and Unhooked
III. Interventions
7. Increasing Connection with Preoccupied and Dismissive
Adolescents
8. Treating Dissociative Adolescents: Alternative Strategies for
Healing Disorganized/Fearful Attachment
9. Including Parents and Families in Treatment
10. The Corrective Relational Ending
Martha B. Straus, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Clinical Psychology at Antioch University New England in Keene, New Hampshire. Her research interests focus on attachment relationships in adolescence and emerging adulthood, outcomes for adoptive and foster children, and interventions for traumatized children and adolescents. Dr. Straus has published several books, including Abuse and Victimization across the Life Span,Violence in the Lives of Adolescents, No-Talk Therapy for Children and Adolescents, and Adolescent Girls in Crisis. She also has written many journal articles and presents and consults internationally on child and family trauma, development, and therapy. She maintains a small general private practice in Vermont.
"This beautifully crafted book weaves together attachment theory,
neurobiology, and adolescent development with the author's years of
masterful practice as an individual and family therapist. The case
descriptions of traumatized, hard-to-reach teens draw the curtain
back on how to use language and the therapeutic relationship to
connect and heal when there has been abuse, loss, and rupture.
Straus combines the language of a gifted storyteller with the
erudition of a scholar. A beginning therapist will find comfort and
inspiration in Straus's generous sharing of her own work, and the
most seasoned therapist will feel enlivened and enriched as
well."--Anne K. Fishel, PhD, Director, Family and Couples Therapy
Program, Massachusetts General Hospital; Department of Psychiatry,
Harvard Medical School
"Straus gives us the rare treat of inviting us into her therapy
room to be witness to the authentic, reciprocal, intimate
relationships with her teen clients that are the fabric of healing
in her relational model of treatment. This book brings the
attachment literature to life in a new way and helps therapists
understand their own relational strengths and weaknesses. Case
examples of teens with varying attachment styles show how building
a therapeutic relationship, over time, can integrate the self and
overcome the disruptions caused by early trauma. I found the cases
moving, the theoretical analysis enlightening, and the modeling of
a warm, honest, related, and constantly struggling therapeutic
stance a beautiful example to emulate."--Joyanna Silberg, PhD,
Senior Child Trauma Consultant, Sheppard Pratt Health System;
President, Leadership Council on Child Abuse and Interpersonal
Violence
"Rarely in our field does one find a voice so research-anchored,
clinically precise, and utterly human at the same time. Straus
demonstrates how to consistently 'show up'--to maintain a
therapeutic connection when struggling with real kids, real
therapy, and real trauma. The accessibility of her teaching is
remarkable, making the book relevant to both trainees and deeply
experienced clinicians. In a therapeutic landscape divided between
protocol-driven and vague eclectic approaches, this book 'holds the
center,' where most therapists and adolescents fitfully live with
each other. Straus's approach can restore health to kids frozen by
life events, in ways that will open the hearts of therapists as
well."--Ron Taffel, PhD, Chairand Founding Director of Family and
Couples Treatment Services, Institute for Contemporary
Psychotherapy, New York City
"Straus provides a comprehensive description of her psychotherapy
model for adolescents, as well as a glimpse of the creative
therapist who developed it. She thoroughly presents the core
principles of her approach, which rests soundly on theory and
research. The many case presentations attest to the importance of
developing, maintaining, and continuously repairing connections
with adolescents in order to help them resolve attachment trauma
and develop an integrated self. This book will find a place in the
frequently-referred-to section of the bookcases of both beginning
and experienced therapists who have the privilege of entering the
lives of these isolated young people."--Daniel Hughes, PhD, private
practice, Annville, Pennsylvania -The book is at once rigorously
scientific and deeply personal, returning psychotherapy to a place
of possibility for growth, creativity, and discovery….Through
clinical vignettes, Straus offers a window into her intimate
encounters with deeply wounded, fragile adolescents….The lessons
meticulously described in this well-researched book echo the wisdom
of the great poets, artists, and sages. The age of evidence-based
medicine has circled back to love as the most essential healing
element. Straus persuasively argues for a return to
improvisational, exploratory therapy, focused in the here and now.
This book is an invitation to drop your agenda, abandon control,
and submit to the chaos and uncertainty of the human
experience.--Journal of the American Academy of Child and
Adolescent Psychiatry, 11/1/2017ƒƒThe author's kindness, verbal
intelligence, self-reflection, and capacity for integrating
developmental neuroscience into psychotherapy represent a giant
step toward effective work with adolescents, and with developmental
trauma. Her ability to organize a coherent theory, beginning with
theoretical underpinnings and proceeding through what she considers
the essential ingredients of an effective therapeutic relationship
with developmentally traumatized individuals, supports a
psychodynamic, humanistic approach to therapy that is sorely needed
and makes her case histories come alive….Both beginning and
seasoned clinicians will benefit from this....Its presence on one's
bookshelf will provide inspiration and occasional reference long
after its reading….This book represents a rather large step toward
the development of a vocabulary and a treatment paradigm for
addressing the 'ongoing expression and enduring cascade' (p.31) of
developmental trauma….Providing a deeply wounded adolescent with
the opportunity to experience himself or herself in relationship to
others, and to experience affect in the presence of a safer other
who is both skillful and committed, is sacred work. It is also
neuropsychological work, and when an author can clearly articulate
in both domains, with consummate writing, her work is an important
contribution to the psychotherapy literature.--PsycCRITIQUES,
7/10/2017ƒƒThis book on treating developmental trauma in
adolescents is an excellent addition to the developmental field in
general and more specifically to those working with hard-to-reach
teenagers. The developmental stance and the attachment theory
approach combines uniquely in creating a model for working with
adolescents affected by difficult trauma in their families….One
aspect that makes this book unique is the emphasis on the
therapeutic relationship and its importance for positive outcomes
in therapy….The use of case presentations makes the book come alive
for practitioners. This is a much-needed addition to the
developmental field as well as the trauma literature!--Doody's
Review Service, 5/5/2017
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