Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders in Children and Adolescents

“The editors have organized a large panel of experts in the field of complex trauma who provide the many excellent chapters found in this unique and groundbreaking text. This text is unique in that it brings together various specialties dealing with complex PTSD, many of which may be unfamiliar to those trained purely within a cognitive behavioral model….This is an important book edited by individuals with significant accomplishment and familiarity with this very challenging field. The various chapter authors have done a commendable job in detailing their particular points of view and providing enlightening examples to emphasize and explain their way of thinking. The book is very well referenced and any reader interested in any of the various strategies presented will find it easy to further their interest and education by exploring the writings of the experts in any of these fields. This would make an excellent graduate-level text in psychiatry, psychology, or social work and should be seriously considered by any program offering child and adolescent psychotherapy. It should be especially considered in programs dealing with trauma and stress disorders.”

—Child and Family Behavior Therapy


“The text goes beyond specific trauma models, providing a unifying conceptualization of complex traumatic stress disorders, their development and presenting features, before directing the reader to specific clinical recommendations…I would thoroughly recommend this book.”

—Journal of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy


“Describing evidence-based models for treatment of complex trauma in children, this book is interwoven with contemporary knowledge about psychobiology and is richly illustrated with extended clinical examples. In addition to a focus on individual treatment, some chapters address the systems within which traumatized children live and are treated. There is a repeated focus throughout the chapters on attachment, self-regulation, and engaging families in treatment. The book provides an excellent foundation for clinicians working with this population.”

—Laurie Anne Pearlman, PhD, past president, Trauma Research, Education, and Training Institute, Inc.


“This volume comprehensively examines complex trauma in children and adolescents, from its neurobiological impact to the development and dissemination of evidence-based treatments. Newer therapies currently being tested are also discussed; case examples illustrate the use of each modality. Clinical challenges related to self-regulation, dissociation, impaired caregiver attachment, and intergenerational trauma are addressed. Written with clarity and detail, each chapter will benefit both trainees and seasoned mental health and medical practitioners. This book fosters needed synergy between scientific inquiry and real-world clinical applications in this important field.”

—Alesia O. Hawkins, PhD, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford


“I have used this book in both advanced undergraduate- and graduate-level courses. It provides an excellent overview of the neurobiological consequences of early and ongoing trauma, as well as best practices for assessment and intervention to help children and families. The blend of chapters on the consequences of trauma for early development with those on evidence-based treatments and practices specific to complex trauma is very helpful to students in training to enter a variety of clinical and behavioral health fields. This book has been an excellent companion reader in my trauma-focused intervention course.”

—Carla Smith Stover, PhD, Department of Mental Health Law and Policy, University of South Florida


“It's all here, including insights into neuroscience, family dynamics, assessment, and—most centrally—intervention. Clinicians and advanced students of psychiatry, psychology, and social work will consider this book a tremendous resource. Chapters on betrayal trauma, multitraumatized children, and treatment approaches are particularly useful for psychotherapists. The list of authors reads as a 'who's who' in the field. If you've ever wondered what to do to help a severely traumatized child, this book is for you.”

—Lisa Aronson Fontes, PhD, University Without Walls, University of Massachusetts Amherst