Children With Conduct Disorders: A Psychotherapy Manual

by Paulina F. Kernberg, Saralea Chazan

The disruptive and oppositional behavior of children with conduct disorders makes this population among the most difficult to treat. Yet even though well over half the children in therapy carry this diagnosis, there has been no empirically based, comprehensive approach to psychodynamic treatment. This new book admirably fills that gap.Written by an outstanding team of clinician-researchers working within an ego psychology and object relations framework, it presents three tested methods of treatment and shows how they can be used alone or in combination. The goal of each is to help the child manage aggression and express feelings in a way that is both communicative and safe. Individual play therapy seeks to strengthen the child's ego; in parent-training therapy the therapist serves as a model of good parenting behavior; and in play group therapy peer interaction helps enhance the child's sense of mastery and self-control.Rich transcripts from actual sessions and step-by-step exposition of play techniques and verbal interventions make this humane and practical book the ideal guide for both beginning and seasoned therapists.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published May 20, 1991