Customer Reviews

Treating the Tough Adolescent: A Family-Based, Step-by-Step Guide

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

I found this book very helpful and inovative. It outlines clearly steps that parents and clincians can take in attempting to deal with out of control adolescents. As a family social worker, I have found most of the suggestions that Dr. Sells outlines helpful and professional.

I do however disagree with some of Dr. Sells suggesitons related to parents attempting to deal physicially with adolescents when certain rules or limits are not met. My experiance with youth suggests that whenever you physcially deal with children other than young kids( under say 10 yrs)parents and therapist risk adolescents becoming more violent by parents being physical. It is better to have police deal with destructive and violent youth. I believe it also may send a mixed message to kids that if parents can be physcial with them then they can be physical back.The message they hear may be that force and restaint is a way to effectvely take control of a situation.

I also think that it is impractical and perhaps inapporiate to expect that clincians can be available 24 hrs a day to a parent as suggested by Dr. Sells. I feel that it may place the clinican in an ethical compormise position by taking control away from the parent rather than impowering them. While I understand the need for parental support in times of crisis. I think that the counselor would be better to not deal directly in any physical involement with youth.

There are however, wonderful examples of the importance of developing repoire with the parents and counselor and beleiving that things will get better.

Agree overall with Ed Chapin's review. As a parent of a teen with Oppositional Defiant Disorder, who had his toe across the line of Conduct Disorder, I have read many books. This by far the best. It helped me to get control of my son and change our family's path better than the Psychiatrist, Therapist, or Juvenile Probation Department were able to. Only exceptions I take to his approach is in regards to takedowns and time commitment expection of treating therapist. Takedowns potentially very dangerous with the type kids (and parents) the treatment model is geared to. The expectation for a therapist to be available (to the extent described) 24 hours a day 7 days a week is unrealistic. Any therapist that would make the commitment called for by Dr. Sells is a workaholic! Otherwise, the book is very informative, clear and concise. After reading, I had a much stronger grasp of how we got to where we were and the changes necessary. I believe the knowledge gained from the book contributed immensely in sucessfully working with the therapist who helped us.

Treating the Tough Adolescent offers a sensible and strategic approach to resolving the family problems of difficult adolescents. This is a valuable book that wedges research-supported ideas into practical guidance for therapists struggling with exasperating adolescents and their families.

As I concerned parent I welcomed this practical guide to improve our family relationship. The author's research shows well tested successful specific actions parents can say and do with their kids. I liked the identification on when to apply the Tough Love and when to increase the Nuturing. More therapists and counselors should apply this approach in their family sessions. I wish churches and schools would teach parenting before kids get into trouble. With Dr Sells research our future will be brighter. Logical and warm. DO read this!

I have been working with adolescents in conflict with the law for approximately 12 years as well as with their families. This is one of the most comprehensive guides I have ever seen. Power and compassion is the other one near the top by Jerome Price. Every one of the interventions in this book have been used by me with the families I work with. For those criticising the severity of the interventions I would think that the clients you are working with would be higher functioning than the pre-contemplative childhood onset conduct disorder kids mandated by the courts for treatment. Only 10% of my referrals have a parent willing to attend. If the police are supportive in your community, then use them but we all know this is not the norm. The book explains clearly how to restrain without being abusive. BTW almost all of these kids get worse before they get better (extinction burst) so plan for it ahead of time.

I am a 3rd year graduate student in clinical psychology, and when I first began seeing clients, I often felt that I didn't quite know what to do with them. This book has been an amazing resource for me and has been the backbone of much of the therapy I do with adolescents and their families. I highly recommend it to anyone who is working with teenaged clients!

I was very disappointed in this book and felt that many of the treatment techniques and ideas presented in the book/model were simply common sense for professionals such as myself who have been treating families for several years. Perhaps it would be more beneficial for those counselors who are just out of school or new to the field. Even more surprising were some of the interventions outlined in the book that I quite frankly felt could do more harm than good to the adolescent and the family and even bordered on abusive. As a clinician, I try to keep an open mind but strongly disagree with some of the author's approaches and hope parents who purchase the book seek the assistance of a professional therapist if they attempt these potentially harmful interventions on their own.

This book is a gem. Sells provides front-line clinicians with a step-by-step road map for doing effective family therapy with difficult adolescents.

Dr Scott P.Sells has the experience and academic background to write on tough adolescents. With his work in correctional education Dr Sells has released his Phd research in an easy to adapt and read format that will prevent parents everywhere from continuing to tear their hair out over their teenage children. The 15 step flow chart will become your best friend as you neutralise the outside influences on your adolescent and take charge in an effective and ultimately successful strategy designed to move tough adolescents from problems to self sufficiency.
Timely advice is written within the research that Dr Sells has done with hundreds of problem adolescents and their families.

In using this book within my family I have found that formalising and making agreements with my adolescent and our parenting has removed hours of time and money spent on therapy and medical advice, not to mention the school appointments with teachers and Principals. Dr Sells explains what to do when relapses occur and how to remove unwanted influences on your adolescents life.

This book puts the parent back in charge of the family, and explains how this leads to self sufficiency in the adolescent as they move into early adulthood.
Treating the Tough Adolescent - A Family-Based, Step by Step Guide is easy to read and well researched and referenced.
I can heartily recommend this book to any parent facing difficult problems such as ADHD, truancy, delinquency, aggression, grafitti crimes, substance abuse, disrespect, and many other issues with their teenage children. It will also serve as a rough guide to these problems for High School teachers both in the classroom and in dealing with parent interviews.
Child Psychiatrists will find this text illuminating in it's ground breaking research into how parents can and must take charge for change to take place in tough adolescents' lives.