Working with Parents: Establishing the Essential Alliance in Child Psychotherapy and Consultation / Edition 1

by Diana Siskind

Overview

The author encourages therapists to approach parents as individuals (not just as parents), and to maintain the same professional perspective in dealing with them that informs the rest of their work. Illustrative case material draws on a considerable range of presenting pictures, from parents who are themselves therapists to those who have no frame of reference for treatment, from parents who seek help when a healthy youngster hits a developmental impasse to those whose lives are shattered by severe pathology and psychic isolation in their children. Integrating theory and technique to provide the practitioner with the tools to elicit collaboration from parents instead of obstruction, Siskind makes it possible for child therapists to sustain the interest, curiosity, neutrality, and empathy that are preconditions to effective treatment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780765700605
Publisher:	Aronson, Jason Inc.
Publication date:	06/01/1997
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	272
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.22(h) x 1.01(d)

About the Author

Diana Siskind is on the faculty of the New York School for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and maintains a private practice that encompasses consultation with parents and supervision in addition to the treatment of adults and children.

What People are Saying About This

Muriel Gold Morris

Diana Siskind has an extraordinary gift for combining a fine-tuned therapeutic instrument with the literary talent to articulate the psychoanalytically informed process of evaluation and treatment of the adults who present at her consulting room with their children.

Editorial Reviews

Diana Siskind's remarkable Working with Parents is a 'can't-do-without' book for veteran and beginning child therapists alike. Her thoughtful approach weaves a scholarly and pragmatic framework for understanding and engaging parents that shines the light of experience and wisdom on this dark, routinely neglected, and most challenging area of psychoanalytic endeavor. By combining theory with clinical examples, Siskind guides us through the complex and confusing clinical issues confronting those who struggle diligently to create and maintain a successful alliance with parents. Her unique observations and reflections, clearly culled from the career of a gifted and dedicated clinician, offer rare insights, enriching to even the most seasoned practitioner.

Michael Schwartzman

Until now, there was no literature on the relationship of the child therapist to the parents. In a brilliant and elegantly written book, Diana Siskind has filled the vacuum. She answers basic questions, such as whether the parent is a patient, how to deal with parents as auxiliaries to the treatment of the child, and how to deal with the parent who is in treatment independently, and presents clinical illustrations with exceptional sensitivity.

Gertrude Blanck

This is an excellent book. It is informative, highly readable and a fine addition to the libraries of analysts whether they work with parents of not.

Nmcop Newsletter

This is a book that has a wealth of thought provoking, practical material to offer to both the practitioner beginning work in child treatment as well as the most experienced clinician. It is not just a book for the child therapists. Its principles are the cornerstone of any analytically informed treatment. Highly recommended.

Journal Of Psychoanalytic Social Work

Diana Siskind addresses a most neglected aspect of child treatment in her new book ,Working with Parents. In a forthright and clear manner, she examines the interplay of therapeutic aims and therapeutic technique in child treatment form a psychoanalytic developmental point of view. Siskind's talent for writing about the complexities of guiding parents through the child treatment process is matched only by her exemplary clinical skill that is readily apparent in her many case vignettes.

Clinical Social Work Journal

Diana Siskind has an extraordinary gift for combining a fine-tuned therapeutic instrument with the literary talent to articulate the psychoanalytically informed process of evaluation and treatment of the adults who present at her consulting room with their children.

Muriel Gold Morris M.D.

Until now, there was no literature on the relationship of the child therapist to the parents. In a brilliant and elegantly written book, Diana Siskind has filled the vacuum. She answers basic questions, such as whether the parent is a patient, how to deal with parents as auxiliaries to the treatment of the child, and how to deal with the parent who is in treatment independently, and presents clinical illustrations with exceptional sensitivity.--Gertrude Blanck, Ph.D.

Diana Siskind's remarkable Working with Parents is a 'can't-do-without' book for veteran and beginning child therapists alike. Her thoughtful approach weaves a scholarly and pragmatic framework for understanding and engaging parents that shines the light of experience and wisdom on this dark, routinely neglected, and most challenging area of psychoanalytic endeavor. By combining theory with clinical examples, Siskind guides us through the complex and confusing clinical issues confronting those who struggle diligently to create and maintain a successful alliance with parents. Her unique observations and reflections, clearly culled from the career of a gifted and dedicated clinician, offer rare insights, enriching to even the most seasoned practitioner.--Michael Schwartzman, Ph.D.

Diana Siskind has an extraordinary gift for combining a fine-tuned therapeutic instrument with the literary talent to articulate the psychoanalytically informed process of evaluation and treatment of the adults who present at her consulting room with their children.--Muriel Gold Morris M.D.

From the Publisher

This is an excellent book. It is informative, highly readable and a fine addition to the libraries of analysts whether they work with parents of not.

NMCOP Newsletter