Integrative Team Treatment for Attachment Trauma in Children: Family Therapy and EMDR

by Debra Wesselmann, Cathy Schweitzer, Stefanie Armstrong

Overview

A practical guide to treating children suffering from early attachment trauma.

Loss of a parent, separations, abuse, neglect, or a history of a difficult foster or orphanage experience can lead to profound emotional dysregulation and mistrust in children. Working with these children—many of whom have experienced multiple traumas and losses—can feel overwhelming. Clinicians must navigate complex case management decisions and referrals, address the needs of parents and schools, not to mention ameliorate the traumatic memories and severe behaviors that present in the kids.

But by working as a collaborative team, EMDR and family therapists can, together, strengthen the parent-child attachment bond and help to mend the early experiences that drive the child’s behavior. This book, and its accompanying Parent Manual, are intended to serve as clear and practical treatment guides, presenting the philosophy and step-by-step protocols behind the Integrative Team Treatment approach, so both the family system issues and the child’s traumatic past are effectively addressed. You need not be a center specializing in attachment trauma to implement this team model, nor must members of the team practice at the same location. With at least one fully-trained EMDR practitioners as part of the two-person team, any clinician can pair with another to implement this treatment approach, and heal children suffering from attachment trauma.

Also available is the accompanying parent’s guide, Integrative Parenting: Strategies for Raising Children Affected by Attachment Trauma, filled with effective techniques to help challenging children with traumatic pasts

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393708189
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/31/2014
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Debra Wesselmann, MS, LIMHP, has specialized in treating trauma and attachment problems in adults, children, and families for the past twenty-three years. She is an EMDr Institute facilitator and EMDrIA- approved consultant, as well as co-founder of the Attachment and Trauma Center of Nebraska in Omaha, Nebraska.

Cathy Schweitzer, MS, LMHP, specializes in treating trauma resolution and attachment problems in children and adolescents. She has fourteen years experience in both public and private school education, ten as a counselor for the Omaha public school system. She is level II trained and certified in EMDR, and is a co-founder of The Attachment and Trauma Center of Nebraska.

Stefanie Armstrong, MS, LIMHP, is a co-founder of and member of the treatment team at The Attachment and Trauma Center of Nebraska. She has more than ten years experience as a teacher and counselor in the Omaha public school system, is level II trained and certified in EMDR, and has presented her expertise in treating and parenting traumatized children across Nebraska and nationally.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction xi

Part I Case Conceptualization and Foundational Work

1 Scared Children, Not Scary Children: The Impact of Neurobiology on the Field of Attachment Therapy 3

2 Overview of the EMDR Integrative Team Treatment Model 20

3 Case Conceptualization and Treatment Planning Using the ATP Model 35

4 Providing the Foundational Work in the Family Therapy Component 56

Part II EMDR Strategies

5 Attachment Resource Development and Other EMDR Preparation Activities 111

6 Adaptations for EMDR Reprocessing of Attachment Trauma with Children 161

7 Complicated Cases 208

8 When Parents Had a Difficult Childhood 232

Closing Thoughts 250

Appendices

A History-Taking Checklist 253

B Useful Assessments 259

C Handouts for Parents 261

D Integrative Team Treatment Consult Meeting Planning Sheet 264

E Therapeutic Story Outlines 266

F Deanna's Story 268

G Joseph the Guinea Pig 270

H The Tale of the Hamster and the Porcupine Coat 273

References 277

Index 285

Editorial Reviews

"As a clinician who often engages in family therapy, I’ve found that this book is a wonderful addition to my trauma-based reading collection. . . . Wesselman, Schweitzer, and Armstrong offer mental health professionals the information they need for each therapy session and each complicated case."

PsychCentral

"A comprehensive and well-written volume that presents the practical tools and specific guidance needed to build an effective team approach for helping children who have experienced trauma or neglect establish secure attachment. The authors provide a theoretical foundation for clinicians to explain how attachment trauma affects children’s emotional, behavioral, and psychological development. They take the reader through a wide range of easy-to-follow EMDR procedures that meet the multifaceted treatment needs of children with attachment trauma, addressing every clinical contingency with detailed case vignettes that illustrate each aspect of the treatment process."

Andrew M. Leeds

"Listen up, all child, adolescent, and family therapists! The trifecta of treatment models has arrived in your local library, bookstore, or online source under the title of Integrative Team Treatment for Attachment Trauma in Children. . . . [A]n excellently organized and practically applicable discussion of family therapy and EMDR components . . . . The authors provide readers with many child-centered and practical therapeutic exercises easily transferable from session to home. It is an excellent text for its intended audience of students and professionals who are studying and treating children who display attachment disorders and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or PTSD-like symptoms."

PsycCritiques

"Often therapists use the term ‘challenging’ to describe children with terrible behaviors that completely disrupt families. This book is an easy-to-read, easy-to-understand approach to treating our most challenging children and their parents. It provides therapists with theoretical background, assessment tools, clinical insights, and strategies to guide effective treatment. Transcripts of actual therapy sessions illuminate the art of therapy at its best."

Joan Lovett