Clinical Work with Traumatized Young Children

Presenting crucial knowledge and state-of-the-art treatment approaches for working with young children affected by trauma, this book is an essential resource for mental health professionals and child welfare advocates. Readers gain an understanding of how trauma affects the developing brain, the impact on attachment processes, and how to provide effective help to young children and their families from diverse backgrounds. Top experts in the field cover key evidence-based treatments--including child-parent psychotherapy, attachment-based treatments, and relational interventions--as well as interventions in pediatric, legal, and community settings. Special sections give in-depth attention to deployment-related trauma in military families and the needs of children of substance-abusing parents.

Joy D. Osofsky, PhD, a clinical and developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst, is Barbara Lemann Professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, where she is also Head of the Division of Pediatric Mental Health. Dr. Osofsky is Codirector of the Louisiana Rural Trauma Services Center, part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network, and Director of the Harris Program for Infant Mental Health. Her research, consulting, and clinical work focus on infants, children, and families exposed to trauma as a result of disasters, community and domestic violence, maltreatment, and military deployment. Dr. Osofsky is past president of Zero to Three and of the World Association for Infant Mental Health. She is a recipient of, among other honors, the Sarah Haley Award for Clinical Excellence from the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and of the Presidential Commendation from the American Psychiatric Association, for her work in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.