Transforming Troubled Children, Teens, and Their Families: An Internal Family Systems Model for Healing

In Transforming Troubled Children, Teens, and Their Families: An Internal Family Systems Model for Healing, Dr. Mones presents the first comprehensive application of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) Therapy model for work with youngsters and their families. This model centers diagnosis and treatment around the concept of the Functional Hypothesis, which views symptoms as adaptive and survival­based when viewed in multiple contexts. The book provides a map to help clinicians understand a child’s problems amidst the reactivity of parents and siblings, and to formulate effective treatment strategies that flow directly from this understanding. This is a nonpathologizing systems and contextual approach that brings forward the natural healing capacity within clients. Dr. Mones also shows how a therapist can open the emotional system of a family so that parents can let go of their agendas with their children and interact in a loving, healthy, Self-led way. This integrative MetaModel combines wisdom from Psychodynamic, Structural, Bowenian, Strategic, Sensorimotor, and Solution-Focused models interwoven with IFS Therapy. A glossary of terms is provided to help readers with concepts unique to IFS. Unique to this approach is the emphasis on shifting back and forth between intrapsychic and relational levels of experience. Therapy vignettes are explored to help therapists address issues such as trauma, anxiety, depression, somatization, oppositional and self-destructive behavior in children, along with undercurrents of attachment injury. Two detailed cases are followed over a full course of treatment. A section on Frequently Asked Questions explores work with families of separation and divorce, resistance, the trajectory of treatment, dealing with anger, linking to twelve-step programs, and much more. This is an ideal book for any therapist in quest of understanding the essence of healing and seeking therapeutic strategies applied within a compassionate framework.

Table of Contents:
Foreword R. Schwartz Part 1: The Internal Family Systems MetaModel 1. The Essence of Emotional Healing 2. Historical Roots of the MetaModel and Internal Family Systems Therapy 3. Family Dynamics: The Dance of Adaptation Part 2: Therapeutic Applications of the Internal Family Systems MetaModel: Doing Child-Focused Family Therapy 4. Clinical Assessment of Children and their Families 5. Organizing Concepts and Principles for Treatment of Children and their Families 6. Intrapsychic Treatment of Children 7. Healing Attachment Injuries of Children 8. Guiding the Process of Self-Led Parenting 9. Working with Siblings 10. Working with Teens 11. Inside the Child's Body Part 3: Beyond the Family 12. The Child in Larger Contexts Part 4: Challenging Aspects of Therapy with Children, Teens, and their Families 13. Frequently Asked Questions in Working with the Internal Family Systems MetaModel Part 5: Putting it all Together 14. Two Cases Part 6: Conclusions and References 15. The Real Picture

About the Author :
Arthur G. Mones, PhD, ABPP, is a Diplomate in Clinical Psychology and Faculty in the Postgraduate Program in Couple Therapy at the Derner Institute, Adelphi University. He is an AAMFT Approved Supervisor and a Certified IFS Therapist. Dr. Mones maintains a practice in Hewlett, Long Island in New York, specializing in individual, couple, and family therapy, and offers workshops and consultation groups to professionals of all disciplines.

Review :
"Transforming Troubled Children, Teens, and Their Families offers an alternative vision of clinical practice to the dominant medical model, in which childhood 'disorders' are treated like diseases in need of diagnosis and 'treatment'. Instead, the book sets out a model of assessment and healing for children and families, integrating ideas from attachment theory, systemic thinking, psychodynamic therapy and humanistic approaches. The approach is inclusive, draws on a range of evidence, and is non-pathologising, with an emphasis on supportive interventions. Mones is able to draw on a wealth of clinical experience and provides many vignettes to illustrate his approach. The author has a natural style of writing which will appeal to therapists looking for ideas that can directly inform their clinical practice, based on a fundamental respect for troubled children and their families." --Nick Midgley, PsychD, Director of Developmental Psychology and Clinical Practice Program Anna Freud Centre and University College London. Transforming Troubled Children, Teens, and Their Families is an essential tool for anyone using IFS with children and adolescents. Art guides practitioners through the complex task of working with young people in the context of their surroundings. He clearly illustrates how a clinician can shift from working within the child's internal system to their external system(s) and back again. Art's wisdom and compassion flow from the pages. --Pamela K. Krause, LCSW, Private Practitioner and Senior Lead Trainer for the Center for Selfleadership "Art Mones has brilliantly bridged the gap between the IFS model and family therapy. He shows us how to work with the internal and external (i.e., family) systems from the IFS perspective to bring balance and harmony to our relationships. He applies this perspective to developmental and attachment theories in a way that provides a clear "roadmap" to creating healthy children and healthy relationships. Art also provides a template for integrating various models of family therapy from an IFS perspective. As an IFS trainer and professor of marriage and family therapy, I will be using this book as a primary source of teaching family therapy." --Ralph S. Cohen, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Marriage and Family Therapy Program, IFS Lead Trainer, Central Connecticut State University