Dissociation in Traumatized Children and Adolescents: Theory and Clinical Interventions

Over the last decade, the literature on therapy addressing trauma in children has expanded considerably, as has the literature on dissociation. Unfortunately, very little of this literature has addressed the issue of dissociation in children. At the same time, therapists working with children and adolescents have become increasingly aware of the occurrence of trauma and dissociation in their clients. Dissociation in Traumatized Children and Adolescents is a groundbreaking text for the study of dissociation in young people. In eight unique and compelling case studies, the authors lay out detailed narratives that illustrate both therapy progression as well as the therapist’s reactions and thought process during case development. These case studies present many aspects of working with traumatized children who dissociate—trauma processing, attachment work, work with the family, interactions with the community—and give frank analysis of the difficulties clinicians encounter in various therapeutic situations and how and why they arrived at particular therapeutic decisions. While the book includes intensive analysis of each author’s theoretical framework as well as that of dissociation in general, it also shows clinicians, in the most practical terms, how to translate the theories of dissociation into action. No clinician interested in trauma and dissociation in children will want to be without this text.

Table of Contents:
Wieland, Dissociation: What it is, How it Presents, and How to Understand it. Baita, Dalma (4 Years Old): Recognition and Treatment of DID in a Toddler. Grimminck, Emma (6 Years Old): Treatment of the Early Sexual Abuse Led to Integration. Potgieter Marks, Jason (7 Years Old): Two Week Intensive Therapy for Adopted Child with Dissociation. Waters, Ryan (9 Years Old): Treatment of Somatoform Dissociation (Encopresis and Multiple Physical Complaints) in Young Boy. Wieland, Joey (12 Years Old): Treatment of Child with DDNOS Following Early Family Trauma. Silberg, Angela (14 Years Old): Working with a Dissociative Teen with Medical Trauma. Yehuda, Leroy (7 Years Old) Speech Therapy and Consulting for a Dissociative Child in a School Setting. Wieland, Discussion and Conclusion.

About the Author :
Sandra Wieland, PhD, is a psychologist in private practice for children, adolescents, and adults at the Centre for Counselling & Therapy in Victoria, British Columbia. She is also a consultant psychologist at the Vancouver Island Men’s Trauma Centre, the Women against Violence Program and Sexual Abuse Intervention Program (Children) at the Pacific Centre Family Service, the Women’s Transition House, and EMDR child therapists. She taught at Tillicum Haus First Nations Training Centre, 1999-2008, and from 1987 to 1997 she was a clinical assistant professor of psychology at the University of Ottowa. She is a current director of the International Society for the Study of Trauma/Dissociation.

Review :
"This book is a gift to clinicians. The chapters speak to the variability of dissociation in children and adolescents and also to the learning curve that clinicians experience in identifying and treating dissociation. A much-needed and welcome resource!" -Christine A. Courtois, PhD, author of Healing the Incest Wound: Adult Survivors in Therapy and coeditor of Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders: An Evidence-Based Guide "Dissociation in Traumatized Children and Adolescents belongs on the bookshelf of every clinician who treats or who anticipates treating dissociative children and adolescents and should be read by every researcher studying trauma, dissociation, and dissociative disorders in the young." -From the foreword by Richard P. Kluft, MD, PhD, coeditor of Clinical Perspectives on Multiple Personality Disorder and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Temple University School of Medicine "In this engaging volume, Dr. Wieland brings together the world's leading experts in the provision of psychotherapy to dissociative children and adolescents. Clinicians faced with the challenges, mysteries, and opportunities presented by treating dissociative children will learn new ways of thinking about their work, practical solutions and techniques, and creative approaches to healing. They will also know that they, like their clients, are not alone, and that there are others out there like them. A must read for anyone working with child survivors of ongoing, interpersonal trauma." -Bradley C. Stolbach, PhD, Director, La Rabida Children's Hospital Chicago Child Trauma Center; Associate Professor of Clinical Pediatrics, The University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, and author of The Children's Dissociative Experiences Scale and Posttraumatic Symptom Inventory "By interlacing client narrative with therapist case conceptualization, Dr. Wieland's book provides practical guidance from the premiere experts in the field. Dissociation in Traumatized Children and Adolescents sets the standard for best practices for therapists working with traumatized and dissociative children. This book is a must have for the library of mental health professionals who work with children." -Robbie Adler-Tapia, PhD, Psychologist and co-author of EMDR and the Art of Psychotherapy With Children