Violence is an age-old phenomenon. War, genocide, and death are cornerstones that define history. Yet in the 21st century, we are experiencing violence in ways never seen before. It may be in worldwide terrorist organizations, inner city and suburban gangs, or the disturbed teenager next door who takes his rage out on innocent classmates. Those who commit violence today, as Kathryn Seifert, Ph.D. explains in this book, are likely to be adults or adolescents who themselves witnessed violence as children or were abused or neglected in their early years. Childhood is a time when bonding with caregivers stimulates the formulation of behavioral regulation, interpersonal skills, moral development, brain development, and problem solving, and when it is interrupted Disrupted Attachments Patterns (DAP) can form. This means that todays violent, neglected, psychologically unbalanced, and traumatized children are likely to be tomorrows dangers to society-that is, unless we can intervene to assess DAP and offer them appropriate therapy. Dr. Seifert offers personal insights from her over 30 years of experience in mental health, addictions, and criminal justice work to help other therapists, victims, and parents understand not only how children become violent, but illuminate the pathway to a violence-free future. Kathryn Seifert, Ph.D. is a psychotherapist, author, speaker, and researcher who specializes in family violence and trauma. She is Founder and CEO of Eastern Shore Psychological Services (www.ESPSMD.com), a private practice that focuses on serving children, adolescents, and at-risk youth and their families.
How Children Become Violent
Never since grade 9 have I ever turned down the corner of a page in a book until now (nearing my retirement years), I sat down to read Dr. Kathy Siefert's book: How Children Become Violent (subtitle) Keeping Your Kids out of Gangs, Terrorist Organizations, and Cults).
First I began highlighting the words of wisdom I wanted to remember. Then I penciled notes in the columns with cross-referencing to other paragraphs I had already highlighted, or was comparing to authors and psychological research using my own personal memory scheme. Very quickly I ran out of using only the highlighted and penciled notes, as there were too many "gems" that needed to be separated by category. With a groan of despair, I apologized to my long gone grade 9 librarian and began turning down the corners of pages that were "extra special".
You guessed it, after a time I felt like I was buried in the Crown jewels and had to find yet another method to separate the VERY exquisite, categorizing to the exquisite, from there to the rare gems, then to the of jewels and on it goes. I have not yet, after six months of reading this book over and over, found enough earmarks to separate the special pages and quotes I am looking for when I am giving public reviews of this book to various mental health agencies, educational institutions and police who work with youth. My latest desperate attempt to keep the information at my fingertips has been to rip pages out of other books (gasp!) and use them as markers with the quote I need written at the top of the torn paper. So far, this is working reasonably well. If you were to see my copy of Dr. Siefert's book, you would think it has been trampled by an army, and that it has been dreadfully abused. Not so. Out of thousands of books in my personal library, this is one of my most treasured.
Recently I gave a synopsis of the International Forensic Mental Health Conference, (where I met Dr. Siefert and bought her book), to the Canadian Mental Health Association. My lecture and notes which were distributed and emailed all across our country began with: "Buy this book!" I keep emailing Dr. Siefert to send me more bookmarks with the Publisher's address on it because I pass them out at every meeting I attend. Soon, if I'm not cautious I will be out on the street corners, stuffing her bookmarkers and ordering address into the pockets of everyone who crosses my path!
Am I a lunatic? Not usually. I have been a registered nurse since Noah's Ark landed and have worked for many years in mental health. As an adult I went back to university to earn a Psychology degree and a Master's degree in counseling so I could spend my full time work as a psychotherapist in mental health. I work for Corrections and Justice in Canada and am committed to finding ways to educate the public and our governments on the intense need for the provision of mental health services for our youth.
For many years I have been looking forward to retirement, when I would write about a subject very close to my heart... the subject of Attachment. After an evening of reading Dr. Siefert's book, with a sense of satisfaction rather than disappointment, I laid down her book in my lap with a sigh relief, and realized that it has been done. And I'm sure much more articulately and proficiently than I would ever have been able to produce.
Dr. Siefert takes us right from the beginning of the needs of the infant to the results of a child not having basic needs met. She gives plain, basic, qualified advice as to how we can determine what type of child might become dangerous as an adult, tells us which tests are useful for what purpose, and takes us through to treatment, leaving nothing for us to guess. Personal stories and examples of famous people are used to keep us on the edge of our seat and connected to the scientific research in a way that we can all understand.
I have recommend this book to psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, mental health workers, Judges, defense attorneys, court workers, police, parents... in fact to anyone who has an interest in the youth of our society. It is written in a style that can be understood by all.
I began my lecture to the Canadian Mental Health Association with the plea to buy this book and ended a recent Justice and Mental Health meeting this week with the same words, passing out the bookmarks around the table in my lunatic style. I end this recommendation for Amazon.com with the same words, for your own edification and for the future of our youth: "BUY THIS BOOK!"
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