Psychological Trauma and the Developing Brain

Written in jargon-free lucid prose, this book specifically shows how positive early experiences enhance brain development and how traumatic life experiences, especially child abuse and neglect, can affect a child's brain and behavior. Through carefully selected case studies, it offers basic principles of treatment and a broad range of interventions that target the multiple symptoms and problems seen in children with a history of childhood trauma. Psychological Trauma and the Developing Brain: Neurologically Based Interventions for Troubled Children examines how interpersonal experience shapes brain development; what is going on in the brain during the critical first six years; how therapeutic relationships and interpersonal experience can promote emotional and cognitive development; how childhood maltreatment can damage the brain and impair the developing mind; what types of experiences and therapeutic strategies can mitigate the effects of childhood trauma; and what policy prescriptions, programs, and early intervention strategies can be implemented to promote healthy development. Susan Fielkow of Doody's Notes says, "AN IMPORTANT BOOK. . . . WELL ORGANIZED, WELL WRITTEN, AND INTERESTING. . . . An important perspective on the effect of psychological trauma on neurochemical development of the brain. It is comprehensive and evocative and leads to questions regarding the larger social impact of psychological trauma and how we should address it. I know of no comparable book."

Phyllis T. Stien received her BS in nursing from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and her MS in psychiatric nursing from the University of California-San Francisco. She has over thirty years of experience working as a child and family therapist, infant mental health specialist, educator, and consultant. Currently, she is working as a supervising therapist and as a mental health consultant for Head Start and Early Childhood Education programs Joshua C. Kendall graduated summa cum laude from Yale, receiving his BA in comparative literature. He also did doctoral work in comparative literature at Johns Hopkins. He has been a freelance health care writer and editor for more than ten years