Treating Self-Destructive Behaviours in Trauma Survivors

Published UK, 2012
This is a book for clinicians who specialize in helping trauma survivors and, through the course of treatment, find themselves unexpectedly confronted with client disclosures of self-destructive behaviours including self-mutilation, bingeing, purging, starving and other addictive behaviours. Arguing that standard safety contracts are not effective, the book introduces viable treatment alternatives, assessment tools and new ways of understanding self-destructive behaviour using a strengths-based approach that distinguishes between the experimental Non-Suicidal Self-Injury (NSSI) that some teenagers occasionally engage in, and the self-destructive behaviours that are repetitive and chronic. In its final sections the book focuses on counter-transference and the different ways in which therapists can work with self-destructive behaviours and avoid vicarious traumatization by adopting tools and strategies for self-care.

Lisa Ferentz is in private practice in the USA.
Paperback. 251 pages