Psychotherapy and Mental Handicap

Treatment of the mentally handicapped has traditionally been behavioral in nature, concentrating on skill development and the elimination of undesired behaviors. There has been little emphasis on the emotions the handicapped person and their family experience. Taking a developmental approach, Psychotherapy and Mental Handicap examines successful intervention techniques for working with clients and their families from birth to old age. The contributors present anecdotes and case studies while covering such relevant issues as the parental feelings on the birth of a handicapped child, sibling therapy, countertransference with handicapped clients, moving from an institution into the community, and bereavement and ways of working through loss. Psychotherapy and Mental Handicap is vitally important for clinical psychologist, social workers, educational psychologists, and educators who wish to improve the psychological well-being of handicapped persons and their families. "The book is a pleasure to read from beginning to end. It would be of benefit to anyone working in the area of learning disability. Case histories and extracts from individual sessions are skillfully included to assist the reader′s appreciation of how people may be helped." --Journal of Advanced Nursing