Behind the One-Way Mirror: Psychotherapy and Children

There isn't a child alive who isn't troubled at times. Parents, teachers, caregivers, and all those who work with children constantly encounter behavior that puzzles, disturbs, or actively alarms them. Confronted with a troubled child, how does one assess the seriousness of a problem? Determine whether it's "just a phase" or the real thing? Whether professional help is needed and what form it should take? How does one find an appropriate therapist? What actually happens in therapy with children?

This unique book answers questions like these by taking readers into therapists' offices to witness actual therapy sessions with children. Their problems range from mild to severe: from school difficulties or reactions to divorce to hyperactivity, anxiety disorders, anorexia, depression, autism; and these sessions are so vivid, insightful, and moving that readers will find themselves participating in the process of therapy itself. Katharine Davis Fishman's comprehensive presentations of the major therapeutic orientations used in treating children (often in combination) -- psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, family systems therapy, and the often controversial issue of medications -- offer invaluable insight into each approach, and demonstrate the complex ways in which practitioners bring theory, training, and informed intuition to treatment decisions and ongoing care.

Gripping, factually impeccable, and warmly empathetic, Behind the One-Way Mirror is not only a probing portrayal of the entire field; it is a book that makes vibrantly clear the ways in which therapy can relieve the anguish of troubled children.


From the Trade Paperback edition.