Power and Compassion

Working with Difficult Adolescents and Abused Parents

Jerome A. Price

Paperback

January 20, 1999

ISBN 9781572304703

Price: $32.00

196 Pages

Size: 6" x 9"

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When teenagers get out of control, understanding and negotiation often only make things worse. In this solid, no-nonsense guide to working with difficult adolescents and their families, Jerome A. Price makes a passionate case for rescuing parents from invalidation by a society that often views parents as the main cause of their children's problems. He shows how demoralized parents can be undermined by well-meaning professionals and other adults anxious to appear understanding, whose alliances with out-of-control adolescents create an invidious triangle. Recognizing that sometimes parents are victims, not victimizers, the author provides effective strategies to help families break free of self-defeating cycles of control and rebellion. The book delineates the levels and types of abusive behavior in adolescents, and outlines how parents can regain control by learning to be both more understanding and more decisive.

“I recommend this book to all therapists who have struggled and/or felt inadequate in their work with behavior-disordered adolescents and their families. [It] will arm clinicians with a useful model and strategies to increase their confidence and effectiveness.”

—Journal of Family Psychotherapy

“This is a lively book that offers winning strategies for parents with difficult and violent adolescents. The examples are more than familiar to therapists, who are offered wise guidance in how to guide parents in difficulty.”

—Jay Haley

“Power and Compassion presents techniques and theory that allow family therapists to be both understanding and determined in their work with aggressive teenagers. Power and Compassion demonstrates Price's ability to assess and treat these extremely difficult situations from a strategic humanist stance. It is refreshing to read a book that deals so openly and directly with issues of power. Family therapists need guts, skill, hope, and great faith in people to confront the emotional and physical abuse of parents by acting out children and teenagers. Price clearly has these qualities.”

—Donald Efron, Coeditor, Journal of Systemic Therapies

“Power and Compassion is an enormously useful book that blends theory and engaging clinical vignettes with practical down-to-earth ideas. In fact, I read it in one sitting. The book left me with a feeling of optimism about dealing with difficult situations. Presenting what are, at times, controversial ideas, Jerome A. Price shakes up the cobwebs of conventionality to expand our view of what's possible when treating intractable situations with explosive adolescents. Whatever your clinical orientation or level of experience, Power and Compassion will expand your existing clinical armamentarium.”

—Leonard Rosen, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan; Medical Director of Mental Health Services, Macomb Hospital, Warren, Michigan

“Aggressive adolescents who are coaxed or coerced into therapy by others are among the most frustrating of all clients. Price has drawn on his work with mentors Jay Haley and Cloe Madanes to develop his own creative approach to those who are often more distressed and motivated than the adolescents themselves—the parents. He illustrates the innovative ways of enlisting and empowering the parents while neither depending upon nor closing the door on cooperation from the adolescents. Price has his own clear theoretical rationale for what he does, but his approach will also appeal to therapists operating from other theoretical perspectives who are stymied with a common clinical dilemma that defies their usual sense of competence and expertise. A valuable set of tools for anyone working with adolescents, regardless of whether they view themselves as family therapists.”

—Jim Coyne, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan

Foreword, Cloé Madanes

Introduction

1. Parent Abuse

2. Directive versus Nondirective Approaches: How to Maintain the Status Quo without Really Trying

3. Early Warning Signs of Aggression: Overreacting to Aggression in Preteenage Children

4. When Divorce Conflict Causes Adolescent Aggression: Guilt, Loneliness, and Parents at War

5. Getting Abused Parents to Take Action

6. How to Break the Cycle of Intimidation

7. The Tao of Family Therapy: A Strategy for Treating Adolescents with Psychiatric Symptoms

8. The Secret Weapon Strategy: Conspiracy and Collusion in Therapy

9. He Must Be on Drugs

10. The Clown: The Therapy of a 13-Year-Old Boy Threatening Murder

About the Author

Jerome A. Price, M.A., is the director and founder of the Michigan Family Institute. A Regional Faculty Member for the Family Therapy Institute of Washington, D.C., he is a well-known supervisor and strategic therapist consulting for mental health centers, hospital medical and psychiatric staffs, and outpatient programs. His articles on many aspects of family treatment have been published in the Journal of Systemic Therapies, the Utne Reader, and the Family Therapy Networker, and he is a contributing author to the books Alternative Services in Community Mental Health and The Evolving Therapist. Price is an Approved Supervisor for the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Audience

For Family therapists and other mental health professionals working with aggressive teenagers and their parents, including psychologists, pychiatrists, social workers, nurses, and counselors, it also serves as a text in advanced undergraduate and graduate-level courses in family therapy or the treatment of children and adolescents.

Course Use