Purchase the Book
Purchase the book from Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Also available through local bookstores and the Internet.
Book Synopsis
Help Your Child or Teen Get Back On Track provides parents with a broad fund of very useful information about emotional and behavioral problems that is rarely found in one place. The contents are similar to what concerned parents might receive in a consultation with an experienced child psychiatrist. Such a consultation would include help with understanding a problem and its causes, as well as general and specific recommendations that parents can undertake to more effectively help their child. This book offers that and more.
There is a wide-ranging but very clear and practical discussion of the specific types of help that professionals can provide a child or adolescent with emotional and behavioral problems. The whole book is informed by the author’s empathic view that raising children is hard work and that parenting is largely “on the job training.”
It is further distinguished by its broad, deep, and plainly communicated views of the many causes of the emotional and behavioral problems of children and adolescents. Not looking at all problems through the one-dimensional lens of “chemical imbalance”, this book considers psychological, biological, social, and developmental causes and offers suggestions and information that takes them all into account.
Unlike books primarily for parents who are concerned with a specific psychiatric disorder, this book is helpful to all parents: well before any formal diagnosis is made, during an evaluation process, and after treatment has started.
The first section of the book includes practical guidance and ideas on how to better understand a child's problems and distinguish between normal turbulence and disruption and that which warrants professional treatment. There are suggestions about measures parents themselves can take to help and how to make better decisions regarding professional treatment for serious problems.
There is one chapter with discussions of over 60 different specific symptoms, from biological and psychological perspectives. Another clearly and practically helps a parent learn how to look at a child’s difficulties from a developmental perspective. A different chapter offers parents 10 steps that are directly useful for any troubled son or daughter. Finally, this section offers a compassionate and helpful discussion of the painful emotions that arise for a parent whose child is having psychological and behavioral difficulties.
The second section of the book, chapters 6 through 12, offers parents who are considering, seeking, or involved with professional help for their child a great deal of useful information and guidance. There is a chapter on psychological and neuropsychological testing that is delivered in straightforward language and will help demystify the experience for all involved. Another chapter not only clarifies the distinctions between a child psychiatrist and child psychologist but also spells out the other types of child mental health professionals and the range of settings in which treatment takes place.
Various kinds of professional interventions and their side effects, including psychological treatment, psychiatric medications, and complementary and alternative therapies are all discussed in clear, understandable language. There is a chapter on the use of play in child treatment. Continuing the practical perspective of the book, the last chapter considers the costs of treatment in terms of money, energy, and time. An appendix provides parents with references to printed materials, self-help groups, and Internet resources.