Customer Reviews

Gentling: A Practical Guide to Treating PTSD in Abused Children, 2nd Edition

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William Krill strikes me as an individual who cares deeply about children and, more specifically, his clients. After reading his book "Gentling," few could argue his noble intentions. However, Mr. Krill presents information that parents and professionals reading his book would do well to digest with caution.

To start with, Krill does present some accurate and worthwhile information. Most of this would already be known to professionals, but in the interest of his target audience including parents, teachers, etc., there are some bits of good information to be gleaned from this work, even if such can easily be found elsewhere. That said, mounds of misinformation, or at best speculation, spatter his book. Perhaps the worst bit of misinformation is his directly and confidently describing posttraumatic stress as a "disease," a term that by definition describes reactions of an organic cause. Posttraumatic stress is of an environmental etiology, not an organic one, even if there are biological diatheses correlated to the development of PTSD or complex trauma. Numerous other examples string through Krill's book where he weaves in and out of a medical model, the implications of which he continually contradicts. He seems to build credibility by using medical terminology and citing (well, his citation system is rather unclear) biological processes, but there too he is just plain wrong much of the time.

Even more confusing is how Krill mixes various theories to justify his anecdotal observations. Eyebrows should be raised when he attempts to integrate the couples/sex therapy ideas of David Schnarch with intergenerational constructs of Murray Bowen to children who have been abused. Krill does not justify these types of theoretical leaps. He also suggests that direct trauma work and behavioral techniques do not work or are even harmful, which is a bold stance to take when a wide body of research strongly supports such trauma-focused therapies as TF-CBT, KIDNET, and EMDR.

What I found most disturbing was the "Child Stress Profile," a Frankenstein monster creation of Mr. Krill that is presented as an informal interview, but scored as a formal, normed structured interview or self-report measure. This "measure" is completely void of norms, reliability, validity data, and logic to back its use. It is obvious that this hodgepodge stab at a useful assessment measure is completely lacking any level of psychometric credibility. Additionally, the "profile" gained from the use of this "measure" would yield no more information than would be obtained from a quality clinical interview by a trained professional. Krill either has no knowledge of or chooses to ignore the numerous psychometrically sound measures available for the assessment of children and adolescents with trauma-based issues. More importantly, he denies the foundation of assessment resting within the clinical interview of a trained professional.

In the end, Krill obviously has the best intentions for the treatment of children who have experienced abuse. But do not be fooled by his catchy use of innovative terminology ("gentling," or "quick teach sheets"). In the process of reinventing the wheel, he undermines current "best practices" of the mental health field. Until Krill can deliver a better-informed argument and/or evidence to support his theory/treatment, "Gentling" should be avoided (and for professionals, this is an ethical issue) as a method to treat children with posttraumatic stress responses.

Gentling is a book that teaches an effective approach that must be spread to the professionals and families who work and live with the special children who struggle with stress disorders. As an adoptive Mother to a son who suffers from PTSD, I can attest to the value of this guide. Bill, a professional who understands our son and his difficult behaviors has configured a treatment plan through years of successful experience working with children in this field. Finally, tools we need to hand to our son's therapist, school counselor and teacher are all summed up in one place, this remarkable book!

So much with children depends on the adult being fully present when listening and teaching. This book helps the adult learn this most helpful of skills while gently teaching the adult to be less selfish.

Gentling will acquaint the reader with a breakthough treatment approach for children who have survived physical, emotional and sexual abuse. It is common knowledge that most children who have survived abuse will also have acquired Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). While PTSD adds an additional layer to the need for therapeutic work, it needn't make therapy an even more difficult or painful process for the child. PTSD takes many forms, and some of the symptoms seen in children may differ widely from adult PTSD symptoms.

The Author of Gentling, William E. Krill, offers a groundbreaking and thorough look at the symptoms of PTSD in children, along with specific treatment modalities dependent on the individual child's symptomology. Written in an easy to use, understand and utilize format, Gentling will allow caring individuals, from parent, foster parent, caregiver, teacher, and clinician or psychologist to offer each individual child the personalized and caring treatment needed for his or her specific abusive history. Additionally, the book offers extremely valuable measurements to gauge the sucess of treatment and lead the way for further recovery.

By adopting tried and true therapeutic approaches used on adults with PTSD; then modifying the approaches for children, Krill offers excellent advise for treatment on a continued basis, helping to ensure that children are given all the care they need for all the symptoms and results of the abuse.

Ad additional resource offered by the book is the inclusion of "Quick Teach Sheets" which can be copied and shared with parents, social workers, and all caregivers who come into contact with the child. The book offers a complete and concise source of information to include the following:

Learn how to manage the often intense reactivity seen in stress episodes
Gain the practical, gentle, and effective treatment tools that really help these children
Use the Child Stress Profile (CSP) to guide treatment and measure therapeutic outcomes.
Any adult who works with children in nearly any capacity can find much helpful reference material within these pages. I would feel confident recommending that all parents, teachers, foster parents, social workers, etc.; keep this book handy for continued reference.

This book is a must read for every family law judge, attorney, probation officer and social worker. It's a must for foster parents and police officers involved in juvenile cases.

Amazingly, there are precious few books that deal with PTSD (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder) in children, perhaps because of the widespread misconception that it is rare among them. Well, it is not and the author, wading in a largely uncharted territory, develops an eminently pragmatic approach to the diagnosis and treatment of children with stress disorders of all etiologies (sexual and other). He observes them, listens to them and is not ashamed to learn from them.

The book is organized as a coherent and sequential collection of checklists and fact sheets: trauma signs and symptoms; child specific expressions of stress; a suggested course of treatment for abused children with PTSD and what the author calls "gentling": a combination of gentle, compassionate and empathic gestures and firmness that convey to the child a sense of safety.

But the book is much more than the sum of the lifetime experiences of a practitioner: it offers an organized theory of stress, replete with psychological tests, guided or directed observations, and an evidence-based theoretical framework. It can be easily applied to PTSD in all age groups, not only children. And, as far as the treatment modality goes, it is bordering on revolutionary. With simple, pedestrian means the good doctor produces one therapeutic miracle after another where all the "sophisticated" approaches abysmally fail. PTSD victims want to trust and to be held. The author has a profound understanding of their plight and his emapthic skills make all the difference in the world to his little patients and older readers alike. Sam Vaknin, author of "Malignant Self-love: Narcissism Revisited"