Child Sexual Abuse. a Primer for Treating Children, Adolescents, and Their Nonoffending Parents

Description

• The treatment approach described is based on over 25 years of research.
• Research includes 15 randomized controlled trials documenting the efficacy of the treatment model described.
• The model offers a practical approach to helping children, adolescents, and their caregivers overcome the impact of child sexual abuse as well as other related trauma(s).
• The book provides practical guidance to therapists with case examples including illustrative therapist/client dialogues and useful handouts and therapy forms.

Children who have been sexually abused not only often experience PTSD symptoms as a direct result of the trauma, but also develop unhealthy emotional responses and may engage in age-inappropriate sexual behaviors. In addition, parents also suffer from the trauma and thus are often in need of emotional support and guidance in responding to their children's needs.

Based on over 25 years of research supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect (NCCAN), and other funding sources, Child Sexual Abuse describes a premier empirically supported treatment approach for children, adolescents, and non-offending parents/caregivers impacted by child sexual abuse. Developed to provide support and to alleviate symptoms and problem behaviors in children and adolescents, trauma-focused CBT for child sexual abuse incorporates treatment components that provide children and their caregivers with education and coping skills training, while simultaneously addressing the trauma. The book describes the nuts and bolts of treatment including trauma narration and processing that helps to alleviate children's distress and feelings of shame associated with the abuse. Parents are also taught effective behavior management skills, and treatment often culminates with a focus on parent-child communication and enhancing safety and future development. This highly effective treatment model can be adapted to be delivered in school-based, residential, home and/or group settings.

Readership: Mental health professionals (e.g. licensed professional counselors, social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc.) and graduate students in these professions studying child sexual abuse or related mental health subjects.

Contents

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Theory, Treatment Development and Research
Chapter 3: Clinical Overview
Chapter 4: Setting the Stage for Treatment: Triage and Assessment
Chapter 5: About This Treatment Guide
Chapter 6: Psychoeducation and Parenting: Initiating the Stabilization and Skill Building Phase of Treatment
Chapter 7: Relaxation Skills and Parenting
Chapter 8: Affective Expression and Modulation Skills and Parenting
Chapter 9: Cognitive Coping Skills and Parenting
Chapter 10: Trauma Narrative Development Part I: Initiating the Trauma Narration and Processing Phase of Treatment
Chapter 11: Trauma Narrative and Processing Part II
Chapter 12: In Vivo Mastery Component and Parenting: Initiating the Consolidation and Closure Phase
Chapter 13: Conjoint Trauma-focused Sessions and Parenting
Chapter 14: Enhancing Safety and Future Development and Parenting
Chapter 15: Ending Therapy
Chapter 16: Addressing Sexual Difficulties and the Impact of Commercial Sexual Exploitation
Chapter 17: Conclusions
Appendix A: Information on How to Obtain Recommended Assessment Measures
Appendix B: Informational and Parenting Handouts
Appendix C: Therapy Resources
Appendix D: Glossary of Terms
Appendix E: Professional Resources
Appendix F: Therapist Forms
References

Authors

Esther Deblinger, Ph.D., is Co-founder and Co-director of the Child Abuse Research Education and Service (CARES) Institute and Professor of Psychiatry at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Deblinger and her colleagues have conducted groundbreaking research on the impact and treatment of child sexual abuse as well as other childhood trauma(s).

Anthony Mannarino, Ph.D., is Director of the Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents and Vice Chair, Department of Psychiatry, Allegheny General Hospital, Pittsburgh, PA. He is also Professor of Psychiatry at the Drexel University College of Medicine. Dr. Mannarino has been a leader in the field of child traumatic stress for the past 25 years.

Judith A. Cohen, M.D., is Professor of Psychiatry at Drexel University College of Medicine, and Medical Director of the Center for Traumatic Stress in Children & Adolescents at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh, PA. Dr. Cohen is a board certified child and adolescent psychiatrist who has received wide acclaim for her work in the field.

Melissa K. Runyon, Ph.D., is Treatment Services Director of the Child Abuse Research Education and Service (CARES) Institute and Professor of Psychiatry at the Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine where she has conducted cutting-edge research in the field of child abuse.

Anne Heflin, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at the American School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University, Washington, DC, where she teaches in the areas of child psychopathology, child psychotherapy, and child maltreatment.