EMDR Therapy and Adjunct Approaches with Children: Complex Trauma, Attachment, and Dissociation

This volume is a welcome and excellent resource for all clinicians working with severely traumatized children.

Francine Shapiro, PhD
Founder, EMDR Humanitarian Assistance Programs

Over the past 15 years, Ms. Gomez has developed highly original and brilliant interventions for working with these very difficult to treat children. This book will be an enormous great gift to our field.

Dr. Susan Coates
Clinical Professor of Psychology in Psychiatry
College of Physicians and Surgeons
Columbia University

This is the first book to provide a wide range of leading-edge, step-by-step strategies for clinicians using EMDR therapy and adjunct approaches with children with severe dysregulation of the affective system. Written by an author internationally known for her innovative work with children, the book offers developmentally appropriate and advanced tools for using EMDR therapy in treating children with complex trauma, attachment wounds, dissociative tendencies, and compromised social engagement. The book also presents the theoretical framework for case conceptualization in EMDR therapy and in the use of the Adaptive Information Processing model with children.

Principles and concepts derived from the Polyvagal Theory, affective neuroscience, attachment theory, interpersonal neurobiology, developmental neuroscience and the neurosequential model of therapeutics, which can greatly support and expand our understanding of the AIP model and complex trauma, are presented. The text also offers an original and pioneering EMDR therapy-based model to working with parents with abdicated caregiving systems. The model is directed at assisting parents in developing the ability for mentalization, insightfulness, and reflective capacities linked to infant's development of attachment security.

A unique and innovative feature of this book is the masterful integration of strategies from other therapeutic approaches, such as Play therapy, Sandtray therapy, Sensorimotor psychotherapy, Theraplay and Internal Family Systems (IFS), into a comprehensive EMDR treatment maintaining appropriate adherence to the AIP model and EMDR therapy methodology.

Key Features:

• Provides creative, step-by-step, "how-to" information about the use of EMDR therapy with children with complex trauma from an internationally known and innovative leader in the field
• Explores thoroughly the eight phases of EMDR therapy in helping children with attachment wounds, dissociative tendencies and high dysregulation
• Incorporates adjunct approaches into a comprehensive EMDR therapy while maintaining fidelity to the AIP model and EMDR therapy methodology
• Contains an original EMDR therapy-based model for helping parents with abdicated caregiving systems to develop metalizing and reflective capacities

Ana M Gomez, MC, LPC is a psychotherapist in private practice, a researcher and a national and international speaker. She is a facilitator for the EMDR Institute, a specialty presenter on EMDR with children and an EMDR-HAP trainer.