Breaking Through to Teens: A New Psychotherapy for the New Adolescence » (1st Edition)

Ron Taffel, PhD, has supervised and written about working with children and families for over two decades. He is one of the country’s most sought-after speakers for both professional and parent audiences. Dr. Taffel is the award-winning author of over 100 academic and popular articles, as well as critically acclaimed childrearing guides and books for professionals, and is a contributing editor to McCall’s and Parents magazines. He is the founder of Family and Couples Treatment Services at The Institute for Contemporary Psychotherapy in New York City, where he lives with his wife and two children.

This book presents groundbreaking strategies for psychotherapy with today's teens, for whom high-risk behavior, lack of adult guidance, and intense anxiety and stress increasingly come with the territory. Ron Taffel addresses the key challenge of building a therapeutic relationship that is strong enough to promote real behavioral and emotional change. He demonstrates effective ways to give advice that teens will listen to, get them to tell the truth about their lives, help parents reestablish their authority, and extend the reach of therapy by such nontraditional means as inviting teens to bring friends into sessions.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Susan Richardson, MA, PsyD(Private Practice)
Description:This book brings clinicians up to speed on current dynamics in working with teens. The author directs clinicians towards some trends in adolescent behavior that differ from what is traditionally taught.
Purpose:He directs clinicians to pay attention to the role of the teen's "second family," (friends available 24/7 through IM, text messaging, cell phones) and how this affects their behavior. He states effective work with teens and their parents hinges on this understanding of the current context of behavior. The author ably carries out these worthy objectives, sometimes citing his previous work on the subject.
Audience:The book is written for psychotherapy practitioners who work with adolescents and their families. The author comprehensively demonstrates his points with numerous examples from his clinical practice and research. Additionally, he has directed over 100 workshops educating clinicians in working with adolescents and their families, clearly illustrating his ability to teach therapists.
Features:The author describes the "new" teen behavior in great detail, pointing out how traditional psychotherapy methods are often inefficient within this context. He depicts, point by point, methods of engagement, confrontation and encouraging family involvement in working with teens. Especially useful are his offerings of "flexible confidentiality," and walking the fine line between risky and dangerous behavior, what he refers to as "the gray zone," in terms of confidentiality.
Assessment:This is a thoughtful, well-written book that should be valuable to clinicians working with teens and their families. The author contrasts the themes in child-rearing since WWII and their impact and relation upon each other, and how these philosophies haven't held up in relation to current problems and behaviors in youth. His book provides today's clinicians with further useful tools for work with adolescents and their families.

Introduction
1. Context: The New Adolescence and a New Treatment Paradigm
2. First Meeting: Getting Teens to Talk
3. Foundation: What's Necessary to Build a Helping Relationship with Teens
4. Direction: Advice as Essential to Helping Teens Change Behavior and Attitudes
5. The Core: Healing the Divided Self of 21st-Century Teens
6. The Gray Zone: The Truth about Lying to Therapists and Other Child Professionals
7. Treatment Unbound: Creating "Flexible Confidentiality"
8. The Parent Trap: Childrearing Advice as Essential to Helping Parents Change Behavior
9. Stuck: How to Conduct a "Focused Family Session"
10. The Village ... Bringing Friends into Treatment
11. The Real in Relational: Challenging Ourselves to Stay Three-Dimensional with Teens
Afterword