Treating Self-injury: A Practical Guide

Abstract

This practitioner resource is acclaimed for its clear, compassionate, and hopeful approach to working with clients who self-injure. Barent W. Walsh provides current, evidence-based knowledge about this increasingly prevalent problem and how to treat it effectively. Fully revised to incorporate the latest research and clinical strategies, the second edition uses a stepped-care framework to match interventions to client needs. It features new chapters on the relationship between suicide and self-injury; formal assessment; family therapy; residential treatment for adolescents; and severe types of self-injury. Walsh is joined by several colleagues who have contributed chapters in their respective areas of expertise. Part I offers a practical introduction to self-injury: what specific behaviors clinicians are likely to encounter, which populations are most at risk and why, and connections to suicidality. Part II, the core of the volume, addresses assessment and treatment. Chapters on a wide range of cognitive-behavioral interventions include vivid case examples that illuminate the thoughts and feelings of self-injurers and show what the therapeutic strategies look like in action. Clinicians get essential guidance for tailoring interventions for clients with different symptom presentations, levels of impairment, and co-occurring problems. Part III covers special topics, including managing self-injury in school settings and correctional facilities. Chapters also present vital information on dangerous behaviors such as the 'choking game,' foreign body ingestion, and major self-injury. Rounding out the volume, the appendices contain helpful resources, including assessment instruments and a manual for teaching breathing techniques to manage distress. These and other reproducible materials in the book can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2' x 11' size (www.guilford.com/p/walsh5). From a highly regarded leader in the field, this invaluable guide belongs on the desks of clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, and clinical social workers treating adolescents and adults, as well as graduate students and trainees across the mental health disciplines. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)