Adolescent Gangs: Old Issues, New Approaches

Michael Fordham's immense contribution to analytical psychology has been marked by its combination of practical and theoretical genius. Before retirement he ran a full clinical practice alongside the co-editorship of The Collected Works of Jung, development of the Society of Analytical Psychology and its child and adult trainings, and a fifteen-year editorship of the Journal of Analytical Psychology. In his published work there has emerged a consistent and original contribution to Jungian thought, particularly in relation to the processes of individuation on childhood, and the links between analytical psychology and the work of the Kleinians. James Astor takes a critical and informed look at Fordham's work and ideas. Illustrating theory with examples drawn from clinical practice, the book will provide a useful amplification of Fordham's own work for students of analytical psychology and a sound introduction to it for analysts interested in understanding the connections between post-Jungian and post-Kleinian thought.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. Basic Definitions and Concepts. Part I. Community Based Interventions. Welcoming Home Boyz: Building Communities through Cultural Capital. Adolescent Gangs: Old Issues, New Approaches - Practitioner's Perspective. Hope: Sustaining a Vision of the Future. Part II. Specialized Agency-based Interventions. Probation Interventions with Gang-Affiliated Youth and Their Families. Youth Violence and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: How can the teacher assess it, and what are the implications for the classroom. Energizing and Organizing the Community. Understanding Family-Agency Dynamics. Part III. Mental Health Interventions. Culture-focused Group Therapy-Identity Issues in Gang-Involved Youth. Youth Gangs-Cognitive-Behavioral Interventions in Schools, and System Change. Pathologizing Normality or Normalizing Pathology? Summary and Conclusions.

Review :
"Adolescent Gangs: Old Issues, New Approaches offers a collection of chapters dealing with how to deal with gangs effectively. The book moves beyond the usual position of describing gangs and gang members as social misfits. Rather, the book operates from the basic belief that gangs members are normal people, who often participate in abnormal behavior, in search of a place for themselves in the communities in which they live. This book examines new and creative ways of thinking about gangs and how to respond to them. It is divided into three sections, each devoted to a type of setting in which services are provided to gang-affiliated adolescents and their families: community-based interventions, specialized agency-based interventions, and mental health interventions." -- Family Therapy