Psychological Treatment Approaches for Young Children and their Families

Edited by
Ingeborg Stiefel, Matthew Brand and Tanya Hanstock

An Overview of Therapeutic Interventions for Children Aged 3–5 years

“Never disappoints. A concise authoritative guide, this book is a treasure-trove and delight to read. It provides the reader with an overview of the contemporary early intervention landscape with sufficient detail to allow readers to feel familiar with the key aspects of each approach, without overwhelming them with too much new information.”

— Alan Carr, PhD, FPSsI, FBPsS, Professor of Clinical Psychology, UCD, and Family Therapist, Clanwilliam Institute, Ireland.

Early childhood is the most critical phase in human development. Negative influences can contribute to irreversible life-long struggles. What is learned in the first five years of life becomes the foundation for subsequent learning. It is vitally important that we effectively treat mental health problems when we find them in preschoolers.

Psychological Treatment Approaches for Children and Their Families provides a comprehensive overview of 14 commonly available therapeutic interventions for children aged 3–5 years. It fills an important gap in a field where information about treatment options is limited compared with those suitable for older children and adolescents. 

The interventions presented are evidence-based and reflect various research backgrounds and theories of change. They are grouped into four sections covering individual child treatments, parent-focused approaches, dyadic carer-child interventions, and family-systems models. Each section describes the models in a condensed yet comprehensive summary, offering information on its evidence base, key concepts, stages of therapy, session structure, treatment effects, and training options, along with a case study example illustrating the therapy in practice. 

The structure allows the reader to decide what treatments can be used for what presenting problem and under what conditions. A set of exercise questions concludes the end of each chapter to encourage better theory-practice links. The result is a text that provides ample opportunities for students and therapists to develop a knowledge base and understanding of how to best approach the treatment of psychological disorders in this age group.

Edited and authored by a select group of experienced clinical psychologists and psychiatrists with a particular interest in paediatric clinical psychology, this text is relevant for students, therapists, trainers and supervisors, referrers, researchers, and funding bodies, as well as all those undergoing training in disciplines related to child development and clinical child psychology.

The interventions reviewed are:

• Play Therapy
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
• Circle of Security (COS)
• Tuning into Kids (TIK)
• Positive Parenting Program (Triple P)
• Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT)
• Child–Parent Psychotherapy (CPP)
• Integrated Family Intervention for Child Conduct Problems (IFI)
• Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy (DDP)
• Watch, Wait, and Wonder (WWW)
• Narrative Therapy (NT)
• Strategic Family Therapy (SRFT)
• Structural Family Therapy (SFT)
• Psychodynamic Therapy (PDT)

About the Editors

Ingeborg Stiefel (RN, Soz. Paed. Grad., Diplom Psychologe, M. Psych. [Clin.]) is a Senior Clinical Psychologist, semi-retired, with over 40 years of clinical experience. She trained in nursing and social work before venturing into psychology. She completed her first psychology degree during the cold war years at the Freie Universitaet Berlin and completed her M Clin Psych at Macquarie University, Sydney, in 1990. The political conflict in the 1970s was also reflected in the field of psychology. Behaviourism and traditional empirical research clashed with a strong psychodynamic tradition in Germany, and critical psychology, anti-psychiatry and East European psychology started to develop a new voice that questioned the theories and clinical approaches of both sides. These formative years are still present in her questioning approach to clinical practice. Ingeborg trained in humanistic, psychodynamic, narrative and systemic therapies, and she has worked with children and families with a wide variety of clinical presentations in many settings, including at the Childrens’ Hospital Westmead. She appreciates client-centred values as a base for all therapeutic endeavours, appreciates the depth of psychodynamic thinking, and enjoys the freedom and creativity both narrative and systemic approaches can offer to therapy, especially when working with young children. She has published widely in the field of family therapy.

Matthew Brand (B. Psyc. [Hons.], M. Psyc. [Clin.]) completed his Master of Clinical Psychology degree at the University of New England. He is a Clinical Psychologist specialising in the field of paediatric psychology. He has gained substantial expertise in both assessment and treatment of preschoolers and their families and has trained in a wide range of models tailored specifically to the age range of preschoolers, including several models of family therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), Trauma-Focussed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (TF-CBT), Parent–Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT), emotion coaching, Circle of Security (COS) and Child–Parent Psychotherapy (CPP), among others. Matthew believes diagnostic assessments for common neurodevelopmental problems emerging in the preschool years, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and global developmental delay, need to be comprehensive and consider a range of factors that influence a child’s development. Over the past 10 years, Matthew has worked in several public health settings, for non-governmental organisations and in private practice in both assessment and treatment roles. Matthew has always been interested in prevention and early intervention to address mental health difficulties, advocating for the earliest treatment possible before emotional and behavioural difficulties become entrenched. He enjoys working with energy, enthusiasm, creativity and playfulness to meet the therapeutic needs of both children and their carers.

Dr Tanya Hanstock (BA. [Hons], D Clin and Health Psyc) completed her Doctor of Clinical and Health Psychology degree at the University of New England in 2003. She then worked in the public health system (in community settings as well as inpatient units), assessing and treating children and adolescents with developmental and/or mental health issues. Tanya has also worked at Riverina headspace. She has worked across, rural, regional and metropolitan areas. Tanya is a Senior Lecturer and the Convenor of the Clinical Psychology Programs in the School of Psychological Sciences, University of Newcastle. She has participated in academic teaching for undergraduate and postgraduate courses at the University of Newcastle (UON), The University of New England (UNE) and Charles Sturt University (CSU) for over 21 years. She has previously been the Director of The Clinical Psychology Programs at the University of New England. She teaches in all areas of Clinical Psychology, supervises the research projects of master of clinical psychology, honours and PhD students and supervises students on Clinical Psychology placements. Her particular interest is in teaching students about child development and the assessment and treatment of developmental and mental health issues in children and adolescents. Tanya’s research is focused on the understanding, assessment and treatment of mental health disorders across the lifespan. Her special clinical interest is in bipolar disorder (BD), particularly its onset in young people. Tanya is in the process of completing her PhD in the field of BD.

ISBN  9781925644661

Softcover, 422 pages

Released 2024