Over the past two decades, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) emerged as a leading-edge method for helping parents improve their children's disruptive and oppositional behavior. Today, PCIT has a robust evidence base; is used across the country in settings as diverse as hospitals, mental health centers, schools, and mobile clinics; and is rapidly gaining popularity in other parts of the world. In keeping with this increasing recognition of PCIT's effectiveness, the authors of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy present this expanded clinical edition to keep readers up to date on new practice developments, current treatment protocols, and the latest research findings. This update retains the fundamentals as detailed by PCIT's founder, Dr. Sheila Eyberg, including an overview of the therapy, detailed description of the course of treatment, and handout materials. The text goes further to explore the evolution of PCIT outside the original target ages of three-to-six (including preventive PCIT for very young children at risk) and examines the use of PCIT with special child populations, such as abuse victims and those with ADHD. Contributing experts discuss uses of the therapy in school, at home, with minorities, and with highly stressed families. But regardless of the population, setting, or topic covered, interventions remain faithful to basic PCIT principles and methods. New features of the expanded second edition include: Adaptations of PCIT for babies, toddlers, preteens, and siblings. Applications for abuse survivors, children with developmental disabilities, ADHD, and severe aggression problems. Uses of PCIT with separating or divorced parents. Culturally relevant PCIT for ethnic minority and international families. Teacher-child, staff-child, and home-based applications. PCIT training guidelines. A brand-new chapter summarizing current research supporting PCIT. As PCIT broadens its scope, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Second Edition, brings innovative ideas and proven techniques to clinical child psychologists, school psychologists, and other mental health providers working to enhance the lives of children and their families.

Preschool children have been largely neglected in the mental health treatment literature, although research has established that many behavioral and emotional disorders in children result from events occurring during the preschool years or are first manifested during this period. This has occurred for several reasons. Traditional psychoanalytic thinking has considered preschoolers to be too psychologically immature for complete manifestations of psychopathology, and the limited language abilities of young children have complicated assessment procedures and made them less appropriate for treatment approaches that are largely verbal in nature. In addition, the developmental complexity of the preschool period has deterred many researchers from investigating clinical issues with this age group. Partly as a result of the lack of information on preschoolers in the literature, practitioners have historically been uncomfortable in conduct ing assessments and initiating treatment with young children. They have often adopted a "wait and see" attitude in which formal mental health diagnosis and treatment are not implemented until after the child's entry into school. Unfortunately, such a delay may mean wasting the time during which mental health interventions can be maximally effective. Recently, this attitude has changed and practitioners now recognize the need for assessment and treatment of behavioral and emotional disorders early in life. What they require to assist them in the timely delivery of such services is information about assessment and treatment procedures specifically designed for preschoolers and with demonstrated efficacy with that age group."

Preschool children have been largely neglected in the mental health treatment literature, although research has established that many behavioral and emotional disorders in children result from events occurring during the preschool years or are first manifested during this period. This has occurred for several reasons. Traditional psychoanalytic thinking has considered preschoolers to be too psychologically immature for complete manifestations of psychopathology, and the limited language abilities of young children have complicated assessment procedures and made them less appropriate for treatment approaches that are largely verbal in nature. In addition, the developmental complexity of the preschool period has deterred many researchers from investigating clinical issues with this age group. Partly as a result of the lack of information on preschoolers in the literature, practitioners have historically been uncomfortable in conduct ing assessments and initiating treatment with young children. They have often adopted a "wait and see" attitude in which formal mental health diagnosis and treatment are not implemented until after the child's entry into school. Unfortunately, such a delay may mean wasting the time during which mental health interventions can be maximally effective. Recently, this attitude has changed and practitioners now recognize the need for assessment and treatment of behavioral and emotional disorders early in life. What they require to assist them in the timely delivery of such services is information about assessment and treatment procedures specifically designed for preschoolers and with demonstrated efficacy with that age group."

Over the past two decades, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) emerged as a leading-edge method for helping parents improve their children's disruptive and oppositional behavior. Today, PCIT has a robust evidence base; is used across the country in settings as diverse as hospitals, mental health centers, schools, and mobile clinics; and is rapidly gaining popularity in other parts of the world. In keeping with this increasing recognition of PCIT's effectiveness, the authors of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy present this expanded clinical edition to keep readers up to date on new practice developments, current treatment protocols, and the latest research findings. This update retains the fundamentals as detailed by PCIT's founder, Dr. Sheila Eyberg, including an overview of the therapy, detailed description of the course of treatment, and handout materials. The text goes further to explore the evolution of PCIT outside the original target ages of three-to-six (including preventive PCIT for very young children at risk) and examines the use of PCIT with special child populations, such as abuse victims and those with ADHD. Contributing experts discuss uses of the therapy in school, at home, with minorities, and with highly stressed families. But regardless of the population, setting, or topic covered, interventions remain faithful to basic PCIT principles and methods. New features of the expanded second edition include: Adaptations of PCIT for babies, toddlers, preteens, and siblings. Applications for abuse survivors, children with developmental disabilities, ADHD, and severe aggression problems. Uses of PCIT with separating or divorced parents. Culturally relevant PCIT for ethnic minority and international families. Teacher-child, staff-child, and home-based applications. PCIT training guidelines. A brand-new chapter summarizing current research supporting PCIT. As PCIT broadens its scope, Parent-Child Interaction Therapy, Second Edition, brings innovative ideas and proven techniques to clinical child psychologists, school psychologists, and other mental health providers working to enhance the lives of children and their families.