EMDR and Family Therapy

A practical guide to treating children suffering from early attachment traumanow updated and revised.Loss of a parent, separations, abuse, neglect, or a history of a difficult foster or orphanage experience can lead to profound emotional dysregulation in children. Working with these children can feel overwhelming for clinicians. But by integrating EMDR with family therapy, clinicians can strengthen parentchild attachment bonds and help to mend the early experiences that drive a traumatized childs behavior.This manualan update to Debra Wesselmanns popular Integrative Team Treatment for Attachment Trauma in Childrenprovides clear, step-by-step application of the Integrative Attachment Protocol for Children (IATP-C). In this treatment, psychoeducation assists parents in developing trauma-informed responses to their childrens challenging behaviors, while family therapy and EMDR therapy deepen childrens bonds with parents; improve self-awareness, self-regulation, and self-worth; and assist children with making sense of their traumatic pasts. Any EMDR-trained clinicianor any clinician pairing with an EMDR therapistcan implement this treatment approach to heal suffering from attachment trauma and offer children and their families a better future.