Breaking Through to Teens: Psychotherapy for the New Adolescence - Hardcover

"Taffel's extensive experience counseling young people and families jumps off the pages of this book. Informed by a down-to-earth appreciation of adolescent development and the challenges faced by today's youth and parents, Taffel provides respectful advice and strategies for helping teens and caretakers resolve specific problems and navigate the adventurous waters of adolescence. A very handy resource for school psychologists and others who consult and counsel with teens and their parents."--John J. Murphy, PhD, School Psychology Program, University of Central Arkansas
 
"This is a remarkable book written by a renowned psychologist and therapist. Dr. Taffel presents a new, exciting approach for working with adolescents of the 21st century. He describes this approach with exquisite clarity and vivid case examples, and in the process challenges long-held views of existing therapy models. Every page bears witness to Dr. Taffel's empathy and warmth and his understanding of adolescents and their families. This book is a wonderful resource for both beginning and experienced therapists, and should also serve as a major text in courses in counseling and therapy."--Robert Brooks, PhD, Harvard Medical School; author of The Self-Esteem Teacher

"Taffel provides us with a veritable feast of wonderful and compelling ideas about how to make deep connections with 21st-century adolescents. A welcome antidote to all the hand-wringing about the alien behavior of 'kids today,' Taffel's relational-behavioral paradigm fills a void left by traditional theories that do not emphasize an authentic and enduring relationship as the primary treatment technique for reaching teens. From the numerous, specific case examples and therapy dialogues, to precise questions to consider and ask, this book fills a hunger that therapists--like the parents and adolescents they treat--have for guidance without equivocation. Graduate students, beginning clinicians, and experienced practitioners will find here a powerful approach to making and sustaining transformative alliances with these most challenging cases."--Martha B. Straus, PhD, Department of Clinical Psychology, Antioch New England Graduate School

"Dr. Taffel returns from the front lines of working with kids and parents, with scary yet hopeful stories of what he sees today. His account is bold, honest, and clear. What we used to call 'at-risk' behavior is now normal teen behavior. America faces an epidemic of culturally induced anxiety in teens. Parents are not really in control. For clinicians who feel in over their heads with today's teens and families (and who doesn't?), thanks to this book, help is on the way."--Mary Pipher, PhD, author of Reviving Ophelia

"In this radical and exciting book, Dr. Taffel issues a challenge to counselors and therapists working with teenagers: Stop being so passive! Rethink the old rules! In this shrink-savvy generation, kids are expert at manipulating their parents and their therapists. Dr. Taffel offers many specific, helpful suggestions for getting teens into therapy and for getting them to stop their self-destructive behaviors."--Michael Thompson, PhD, coauthor of Raising Cain
 

This book presents groundbreaking strategies for psychotherapy with today's teens, for whom high-risk behavior, lack of adult guidance, and intense anxiety and stress increasingly come with the territory. Ron Taffel addresses the key challenge of building a therapeutic relationship that is strong enough to promote real behavioral and emotional change. He demonstrates effective ways to give advice that teens will listen to, get them to tell the truth about their lives, help parents reestablish their authority, and extend the reach of therapy by such nontraditional means as inviting teens to bring friends into sessions.