Candor, Connection and Enterprise in Adolescent Therapy

Therapists trying too hard to appeal to their uncooperative adolescent clients risk losing cases before they are even underway. These kids are quick to pick up on the therapist who struggles to be helpful, be liked, make conversation, and not upset. So worried is the therapist about saying the "wrong" thing, he or she may wind up saying too little that is useful. The client withdraws into silence, becomes sarcastic, or makes fun to show disinterest, or even contempt, and the therapist finds him- or herself getting frustrated and blaming the adolescent for the treatment's failure, attributing the problem to "resistance."

Candor, Connection, and Enterprise in Adolescent Therapy explores a unique new approach to relating to adolescents in therapy. Focusing on establishing relationships between therapists and adolescents that are genuine and unaffected, and on bringing about conversation that is candid, forthright, and emotionally moving, this book offers therapists techniques for engaging and connecting with their teenaged clients to help them and their family members find dignified, face-saving ways out of their problems. Case examples and stories from the author's own practice illustrate how therapists can successfully navigate difficult therapeutic encounters and avert the power struggles and "going-nowhere" dialogues that stall treatment and bore their young clients.