Meeting the Challenges of Adolescent Psychotherapy

When the problems of adolescence go beyond the helping skills parents and other adults, a therapist may be the young person's best hope. This book deals with considerations relating to general planning, diagnostic work, resistance, and other challenges with the adolescent client, as well as with specific techniques that may be employed in outpatient psychotherapy with teenagers. Primarily intended for graduate students in training to become psychotherapists, the book is also useful for experienced therapists as an overview issues in therapy and a helpful reminder of techniques they may not have used for a while (for example, “priming the pump” reinforcement, indirect modeling, informal desensitization, reciprocal inhibition, and so forth). Dr. Gardner brings over 30 years of insight in working with adolescents in various clinical settings to the commentary and case examples in this book, offering a personal dimension to information generally provided in adolescent therapy textbooks.

Book Review

“Meeting the Challenges of Adolescent Psychotherapy is informed, informative, deftly written, and superbly organized. . . . [it] is a welcome and highly recommended addition to professional and academic library Psychology/Psychotherapy reference collections and supplemental reading lists.”

—Midwest Book Review, The Psychology Shelf

“Overall, this book offers a concise overview of psychotherapy with adolescents… many of the therapeutic techniques reviewed in this book can be adapted and applied to form positive relationships with students and to assist students in achieving social, emotional, and academic progress.”

—Amy Runningen, LICSW, School Social Work Journal