Relationship-Based Treatment of Children and Their Parents: An Integrative Guide to Neurobiology, Attachment, Regulation, and Discipline

Immediate interventions for struggling families, integrating four distinct areas of psychology.

Children and families burdened with attachment disruption, emotional distress, or psychological disorders need effective and immediate assistance. They do not have the time to wait for long-term interventions or developmental changes to improve the parent-child relationship. Here, psychologists Elizabeth A. Sylvester and Kat Scherer provide the most effective approach in such situations: interventions that impact the entire family at relational, emotional, and cognitive-behavioral levels, and that give parents agency to have rapid therapeutic impact on their children’s lives and well-being.

This addition to the celebrated Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology integrates four distinct areas of psychology: neurobiology, attachment theory, emotion, and relationship-based discipline. This integration produces a clear point of entry for therapists working with struggling families and provides interventions that are logical, doable, and highly effective.

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Elizabeth A. Sylvester, PhD, is a Clinical Psychologist working with children and their families in Austin Texas for over 30 years. She is an Advanced Trainer of the Nurtured Heart Approach, and integrates this approach with her expertise in relational attachment and interpersonal neurobiology. She specializes in treating highly behaviorally and emotionally intense children and adolescents combining parent interventions and psychotherapy. Dr. Sylvester is a cofounder of the Heart & Work series of writings and presentations, and of Austin Child Therapy, an organization whose mission is to support the work of pediatric mental health professionals. She is married and the mother of twin sons.

Kat Scherer, PhD, is a Psychologist, writer, and educator working in Austin, Texas. She has a private psychotherapy practice and offers presentations on emotional development, interpersonal neurobiology, stress management, and the applications of yoga and meditation in psychotherapy. Her trainings have been provided in professional conferences, continuing education programs, parenting workshops, and in academic settings. She co-founded Austin IN Connection, and Family Matters, both multidisciplinary collaborations focused on emotional wellness and positive attachment. She is a co-founder of the mental health blogs: Therapy Matters, and Heart & Work of Parenting. Also, she is a faculty member at the Practice School of Yoga Therapy.

Daniel J. Siegel, MD, is the Cofounder of Mind Your Brain, the Founder and Director of Education of the Mindsight Institute, Founding Co-Director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA, and an international conference speaker. He is a NYTimes-bestselling author of books like Mind, The Mindful Therapist 2nd Edition, The Mindful Brain, Aware, and The Developing Mind, and Founding Editor of the Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB), with over 1.4 million books sold. Learn more about the IPNB Series at wwnorton.com/ipnbseries.