Community Based Psychotherapy with Young People: Evidence and Innovation in Practice »

Baruch, Geoffrey, PhD

In the last 50 years, emotional and behavioral problems among young people have increased dramatically, yet only a minority is receiving treatment. Many young people who would benefit from psychotherapy are reluctant to be treated in traditional clinical settings, and it is doubtful whether these settings are the most effective way to deal with these patients.
Community-Based Psychotherapy with Young People offers a fresh perspective on working with difficult groups of patients. It addresses the difficulties in engaging with and treating young people with mental health problems, describing approaches and techniques for working with them, and taking into account the developmental, psychiatric, psychological, and biological issues of those in need of help. Part 1 covers the likely problems and difficulties encountered in such work, addressing issues such as engaging young men who are depressed and hard to reach. Part 2 describes services for high priority groups of young people, including those who are disabled or from ethnic minority backgrounds. Part 3 describes how the outcome of the work is evaluated and considers the impact present developments in child and adolescent mental health may have on community-based organizations.
This book will appeal to professionals working in more traditional settings who want to explore different ways of working with young patients, including psychotherapists, counselors, clinical psychologists, social workers, and mental health service planners.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Marc Sandrolini, MD(Rush University Medical Center)
Description:This is a compilation of articles about treating adolescents and young adults in a community-based mental health clinic. The articles are written by staff members at the Brandon Centre, a psychoanalytically oriented clinic in London.
Purpose:The editor notes that young people in need of mental health services often resist such treatment. Community-based clinics are in a good position to engage this population, and can lower the adolescent's resistance by using a variety of therapeutic and pragmatic techniques.
Audience:The stated audience for the book is psychotherapists working with young people in a community setting, though it would be suitable for therapists in other settings as well.
Features:The book is divided into three sections. The first addresses methods of engaging young people, especially resistant ones, in the therapeutic process. Part two describes work with high-risk populations, such as those who are sexually active or those with severe mental illness, conduct disorders, and learning disorders. It also discusses approaches to special populations, such as minorities, immigrants, and the physically handicapped. Part three describes the Brandon Centre's outcome studies of their own population.
Assessment:I harbored some initial concerns that the contributors to this book were all from the same clinic and that a single community clinic in London may not be able to offer information that is useful in broader contexts. My concerns were dispelled, however, as the contributors' psychodynamic understanding of the adolescent, coupled with a practical clinical approach, yielded several essays that seem universally applicable. The authors write in a simple, focused style that largely eschews psychoanalytic jargon while effectively preserving the underlying ideas that makes the analytic approach so valuable. The book lacks a true overarching theme, and some essays are not particularly relevant to the community clinic concept. As well, the material breaks little new ground, and the same information can be had from other sources. These are small criticisms and, overall, this book would be quite useful to any therapist who seeks a better bond with adolescent patients, and makes a fine endorsement for the community-based approach.