Special Needs - General & Miscellaneous, General & Miscellaneous Military History, Anxiety, Stress & Trauma-Related Disorders, Family Tragedies, Social Sciences - General & Miscellaneous
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Overview
The horrific scale of destruction due to the Second World War in countries all over the world is well known. A whole generation of children grew up being exposed to the horrors of war early on in life, yet the dimension and legacy of the long-term psychological impact of these early traumatic experiences has been a sadly neglected topic in the therapeutic and mental health literature. This book is designed to help counselors and therapists working with adults and children from a variety of backgrounds who have suffered war trauma in childhood.Splintered Innocence is firmly based on the author's own clinical practice and also draws on his innovative style of intuitive discovery and exploration of childhood war trauma. Powerful examples of case studies illustrate the disturbing extent and complex spectrum of the long-term psychological damage caused by childhood war trauma. The author considered how these cases and others like them can be understood and can themselves shape theories about how to treat patients suffering from war trauma. Practical suggestions are made for mental health professionals, counselors, and therapists working with such patients, and how the likely consequences for the new generations of children involved in current conflicts can be assessed.
This book will be invaluable to counselors, psychotherapists, and other professional working with those who have suffered war trauma in childhood, including academics, teachers, and volunteer workers. It will also be of interest to the educated general reader.
Editorials
From The Critics
Reviewer: Nasri Jacir, MD(Rush University Medical Center)Description: The author offers a psychotherapeutic paradigm of looking at trauma. His work is mainly targeted at dealing with war trauma, but it can also be extended to apply to rather conventional psychotherapy.
Purpose: "The book does not use the most rigorous of methods in stating its case, but through the presentation of various clinical cases, the author offers a pseudo-scientific way of looking at the uncharted field of the psychology of war and conflict. The book is primarily directed at helping the clinician working with patients from war-torn areas. Although the clinical material is mostly from post-World War II Europe, the methods, as the author points out, might well benefit people in most of the world's hot spots. "
Audience: The book is appropriate for the experienced therapist as well as the layperson. Its case presentations are fascinating to read and might be interesting to anyone with a specific interest in the topic.
Features: Most of the clinical cases are engrossing and really involve the reader. Emphasis is given to the need for obtaining historical and autobiographical information when interviewing patients. The author successfully demonstrates how such information can help uncover painful traumatic war memories and how such insight can be central to any therapy. Concepts such as parallel processing and sculpting are interesting and seem to contribute to this paradigm.
Assessment: This book provides a new dimension of looking at the psychiatric patient. In the aftermath of the terror attacks in New York, it will probably be an important starting point for a field that has not been thoroughly studied.
3 Stars from Doody
Book Details
Published
September 13, 2001
Publisher
New York : Brunner-Routledge, 2001.
Pages
184
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780415223621