Crises in the Psychotherapy Session Transforming Critical Moments Into Turning Points

What do you do when your client flies into a rage or has a severe panic attack during a therapy session?  Author Julian D. Ford explains how to harness such crises for breakthroughs. 

Crises that erupt in the midst of a psychotherapy session can be overwhelming not just for the client but also for the therapist. Yet every crisis also can be a therapeutic breakthrough. With this book, therapists learn how to transform such critical moments in psychotherapy into powerful and positive turning points. 
   
Drawing from trauma and attachment theory and the essential principles of psychotherapy and crisis management, Ford explains how crises can be understood as episodes of extreme emotional dysregulation. With a series of in-depth case examples, Ford shows how therapists can utilize emotion regulation as a practical framework to deescalate crises. 
   
Each case study is a transcript of a psychotherapy session, complete with dialogue and commentary, featuring real-life expert clinicians who use a crisis as an opportunity to help clients face and resolve a sense of being damaged, betrayed, or abandoned. With wisdom, compassion, and a deep understanding of human emotions, this book teaches essential skills that all therapists will need. 

Julian D. Ford, PhD, ABPP, is a board-certified clinical psychologist and Professor of Psychiatry and Law at the University of Connecticut, where he directs two Treatment and Services Adaptation Centers in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network: the Center for Trauma Recovery and Juvenile Justice and the Center for the Treatment of Developmental Trauma Disorders. Dr. Ford is the immediate past president of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies and a fellow of the American Psychological Association. He has published more than 250 articles and book chapters and is the author or editor of 10 books.
 

Introduction: Transforming Crises into Turning Points in Psychotherapy
I. Essential Principles and Practices for Resolving Crises in the Psychotherapy Session
1. A Phase-Based Crisis Model
2. Emotional Dysregulation and Adaptive Self-Regulation
3. Essential Elements of Crisis Intervention
4. Essential Psychotherapy Principles and Practices 
5. An Integrative Approach to Resolving Crises in the Psychotherapy Session
6. Crises as a Challenge to Therapist Self-Regulation
II. Case Session Transcripts of In-Session Critical Moments
7. Supporting a Recently Traumatized Youth in a Crisis of Dissociation and Self-Harm
8. Engaging a Sexually Traumatized Youth in Therapy
9. Understanding and Working with Dissociative States
10. A Crisis of Trauma and Distress Across Generations
11. Helping a Family Cope with the Threat of Revictimization
12. Defusing Violence and Facilitating Recovery from Profound Dissociation 
Epilogue
References