Family Therapy for Treating Trauma An Integrative Family and Systems Treatment (I-FAST) Approach

Trauma can result in a variety of symptoms and problems such as behavioral disorders, emotional dysregulation, sleep disturbances, recurring nightmares, intrusive thoughts, and learning and academic challenges. Children and adolescents who have posttraumatic stress disorder are usually presented to therapists in one of four clinical situations: (1) the traumatized child and parents request trauma-focused therapy, (2) the child with trauma history refuses treatment, (3) a parent is impaired by their own trauma history but does not want to receive treatment, (4) a child has experienced trauma but the parent wants to focus on a behavioral issue and symptoms rather than the trauma. Family Therapy for Treating Trauma offers a stand-alone family therapy approach for trauma survivors and provides a cross-culturally competent family treatment framework for working with trauma. It outlines both how to assess family patterns that reinforce or exacerbate effects of trauma and how to mobilize the healing power of family relationships to moderate or resolve effects of trauma. Via an integrative approach, the book offers flexible ways to adapt to client choices so as to enhance difficult to engage clients and families. It serves as a resource for professional audiences and can be offered as a text for courses on both family therapy and trauma treatment.

Acknowledgments
List of Contributors

Section I: General Issues Related to Trauma
Chapter 1: Overview of Trauma
Chapter 2: Evidence-Based Trauma Treatments
Chapter 3: Trauma and the Family
Chapter 4: Family Approaches and Trauma

Section II: I-FAST Treatment for Trauma
Chapter 5: Overview of I-FAST
Chapter 6: Trauma and Interactional patterns
Chapter 7: Trauma and Frames
Chapter 8t: Who to Include in Treatment
Chapter 9: Family Intervention and Trauma

Section III: I-FAST Trauma Treatment for Special Populations
Chapter 10: Substance Abuse and Trauma
Chapter 11: Stories of Violence and Resilience
Chapter 12: Children in Foster Care and Placements
Chapter 13: Intergenerational Trauma

Section IV: Research
Chapter 14: Supporting Evidence for I-FAST Trauma Treatment

Epilogue
References