The combination of an art therapist's personal trauma with secondary traumatic stress can lead to compassion fatigue. Inspired by narrative art therapy methods, the author engaged in memoir writing, art responses, authentic movement, and public exhibition. This creative life review identified ways in which her nervous system responses to clients'…

The authors wrote this article in the context of the ongoing wars, losses, battles, violence, conflicts, hunger, and unprecedented humanitarian crises in the Arab world and in the context of the discrimination, hatred, and separations faced by many refugee families who are seeking to find a safer life for themselves and their children. Drawing on…

Children who are adopted at an older age through foster care and those adopted from overseas orphanages are at high risk for behavioral and emotional distress. This important manual presents a structured, evidence-based protocol for providing mental health treatment to families adopting vulnerable children. Drawing on their extensive clinical…

The roles that pets play in the lives of college students have received little attention in the college counseling literature. This article will review four topics related to college students and pets that have implications for counselors: (a) the separation anxiety that students experience from not having their pets at college, (b) the…

In this article, it is hypothesized that disorganizing, disorienting, and unresolved states of mind about loss experiences, as classified by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) coding system, may offer insight into the bereaved mind and may guide clinical treatment approaches. This article discusses pre-loss attachment organizations and the…

Because most research on military families has focused on children who are old enough to go to school, we know the least about the youngest and perhaps most vulnerable children in these families. Some of what we do know, however, is worrisome--for example, multiple deployments, which many families have experienced during the wars in Iraq and…

The authors explore the importance of early attachments; the effects of separation on infants, toddlers, and 3-year-olds; and ways teachers can support children and families during separations. They discuss the predictable stages of the Emotional Cycle of Deployment, a model used with military families, and strategies teachers can use to help…

Students and other members of a school community frequently experience grief and loss. This article uses a dual process model to describe students' grief and loss. It also describes the manifestations of grief at different stages of children's development, as well as interventions at different levels of the school environment. The ability to help…

Much of the contemporary bereavement literature on the continuing bond to the deceased (CB) has emphasized its adaptiveness and given limited attention to when it may be maladaptive. The attachment literature on disorganized-unresolved attachment classification in relation to loss, or "unresolved loss," is informative in identifying CB expressions…

This article examines the interdependent nature of infants and their parents who are experiencing wartime deployment and reunion. Research supports the contention that the cumulative effects of stress place families at risk; the experience of ambiguous loss changes as family roles change throughout the cycle of deployment; and parental absence has…

An attachment theory based perspective on the continuing bond to the deceased (CB) is proposed. The value of attachment theory in specifying the normative course of CB expression and in identifying adaptive versus maladaptive variants of CB expression based on their deviation from this normative course is outlined. The role of individual…

Some babies have a lot more separation anxiety than others. Between 9 and 16 months, some infants become very upset when separated from their parents. In this article, the author gives advice to caregivers on how to comfort and soothe infants who exhibit separation anxiety.

Bereavement researchers have made some significant advances in the understanding of the dynamics and the processes of managing grief. In this article, the author presents three of these advances that are central to a discussion of adolescent grief and of preventive interventions: (1) Increasingly, both clinical and research evidence indicate that…

The victim-response cycle model focuses on specific aspects of the relationship that victims have with their offenders which contribute to the degree of trauma that victims experience. This model addresses attachment and learned coping responses to assist clinicians in treating symptomatic behavior. A case example demonstrating the model is…

Attachment, separation, and loss are critical life events for many young children. This article discusses prevalent factors of separation and loss and their potential harmful effects on development. Also, books and resources geared for children are suggested to help early childhood professionals facilitate resolution with affected children and…