Patterns of Child Abuse : How Dysfunctional Transactions Are Replicated in Individuals, Families, and the Child Welfare System

Interpret the hidden meaning of family roles to help children at risk! Because dysfunctional patterns are closed systems that serve a secret purpose, they are almost impossible to change from the outside. Patterns of Child Abuse helps you recognize the purpose behind the patterns and offers successful strategies for entering the pattern in order to help family members without joining it and becoming part of the dysfunction. Patterns of Child Abuse identifies the most common, most problematic patterns and explores their hidden meanings. Case studies and theoretical discussions demonstrate the ways family patterns are replicated in a child's psyche and the ways the grown-up child replicates the familiar family pattern, forcing the world to bend to the story within. Synthesizing systems theory, behaviorism, and psychoanalysis, Patterns of Child Abuse offers powerful insights as well as practical strategies for dealing with such complex issues as: how to comfort an abused child who cannot bear to be touched why abused children idealize their battering or neglectful parent how borderline personality organization affects individuals and their families handling the sexually powerful teenage girl, the disruptive boy, and the mother of the sexual abuse victim how family patterns operate in therapeutic context why therapists and social workers may encounter conflicts in child welfare cases when and how paradoxical interventions can work Well-written and insightful, Patterns of Child Abuse conveys a sound theoretical model and a sophisticated approach to the psychology of individuals and families for the child welfare professional. Richard M. Lerner A book of immeasurable value to parents, practitioners, and policymakers. . . . Provides innovative and convincing recommendations about critically needed revisions in the conceptualization, design, and delivery of interventions. This book is a watershed event. CONTENTS; Preface; Acknowledgments; Introduction; Chapter 1 The Importance of Patterns; Chapter 2 Patterns in the Mind; Chapter 3 A Systemic View of the Psyche; Chapter 4 Children's Idealization of Bad Parents; Chapter 5 "At Least I'm Not As Bad As My Mother (of Father)"; Chapter 6 The Avoidance of Personal Closeness; Chapter 7 Seriously Disturbed Patterns; Chapter 8 The Sexual Abuse Victim's Mother; Chapter 9 The Sexually Powerful Adolescent Girl; Chapter 10 The Disruptive Boy; Chapter 11 The Absent Parent Returned; PART IV: INTERVENTION PATTERNS. Chapter 12 Dysfunctional Treatment RelationshipsChapter 13 Role Ambiguity Among Service Providers; Chapter 14 The Social Worker and the Family; Chapter 15 The State Social Worker in the Role of Parenting Conscience; Chapter 16 When All Else Fails; References; Index. Explains how child abuse affects the victims and their families, and provides information on how to comfort an abused child who cannot bear to be touched, why abused children idealize their battering or neglectful parent, how borderline personality organization affects individuals and their families, and how family patterns operate in a therapeutic context A social worker at the state Department of Social Services (DSS) asked my opinion about a man, Mr. Avalon, who, several months earlier, had punched his two children because they would not keep quiet.