"Solidly based in recent neuroscience research on the right brain, current psychodynamic understandings of self-states, and modern conceptualizations of projective drawings, Susan Parente offers a creative, pragmatic model of both assessment and treatment. I highly recommend this important clinical contribution for working with a variety of self-states in a spectrum of clinical and adolescent disorders." Allan N. Schore, PhD, author of Right Brain Psychotherapy, The Development of the Unconscious Mind, and The Science of the Art of Psychotherapy
"Based on years of experience in evaluating children as a school-based psychologist and private practitioner, this book demonstrates Dr. Parentes passionate commitment to the idea that childrens drawings may provide unique access to psychological understandings and serve as a foundation for self-discovery and therapeutic healing. Filled with beautiful figurative examples and compelling case vignettes of how this can be achieved, the manual sets out a highly creative approach to using the drawing process in assessment and treatment of children, integrating the latest ideas from neuroscience, formulations of dissociation and multiple self-states, and attachment theory. Building upon earlier traditions of projective figure drawing techniques, Dr. Parente's MSSDT offers a novel, playful, reassuring method for exploring the emotional states and psychological lives of children, in a way that can be used by a wide-range of child and adolescent clinicians." Nick Midgley, co-director of the Child Attachment and Psychological Therapies Research Unit (ChAPTRe), UCL and the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families, London; author of Mentalization-Based Treatment: A Time-Limited Approach
"Susan Parente's book is a true gift to child and adolescent psychotherapists! It is well-crafted, practical, and based upon decades of clinical experience. If a picture is worth more than 1000 words, then an image-based assessment and treatment method that avoids the cognitive trap is invaluable." Terry Marks-Tarlow, PhD, author of Play & Creativity in Psychotherapy, Clinical Intuition in Psychotherapy, and Awakening Clinical Intuition
"The reader is in for a treat a creative blend of art therapy, affect regulation therapy, CBT and psychodynamic models by a master clinician. The result is a tool for ongoing assessment and a therapeutic playground in which the self is recognized and given agency and in which everyone can play without shame. This is an important contribution for which both clinicians and patients will be grateful." Daniel Hill, PhD, author of Affect Regulation Theory: a Clinical Model
"The MSSDT is imminently useful for therapists of diverse orientations who want to help children and adolescents better understand themselves and their emotions in a way that depathologizes dysregulation, capitalizes on strengths, and engages young people creatively in finding a path forwardone built on the knowledge that who they are at their worst moments is not all they are or who theyre destined to be in the future. Ive utilized this practical and illuminating technique in my own practice, and highly recommend it to other clinicians." Craig Haen, PhD, RDT, CGP, LCAT, FAGPA, co-editor of the Handbook of Child and Adolescent Group Therapy and Creative-Arts Based Group Therapy with Adolescents
"The Multiple Self States Drawing Technique is an invaluable addition to clinicians tools for working with children and teens. Parentes uniquely creative approach is well documented in theory and practice that she articulates clearly. An engaging approach, it will serve clinicians and their clients extremely well." Nina K. Thomas, PhD, ABPP, assistant associate professor, NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis and Co-Chair, Advanced Specialization in Trauma and Disaster Studies
"The MSSDT joins therapeutic creative procedures with state-of-the-art psychodynamic theory. Susan Parente details current ideas about attachment, self-states, dissociation, body memory, trauma and affect-regulation while also exploring the psychological use of drawings. What is unique here is the integration of these ideas into a collaborative model for growth and healing for clinicians working with children and adolescents. Parentes clinical vignettes demonstrate how to use the MSSDT to reveal in-depth psychodynamic issues and create bridges for integrating multiple self-states." Osna Haller, PhD, past president, New Jersey Psychological Association, Certified EMDR Therapist, APA Certification in Proficiency of Treatment of Substance Abuse
"Parentes manual introduces us to the integrative thought processes of a master clinician. Creatively weaving a tapestry of multiple theoretical strands, she offers the reader an in-depth introduction to each of the theories that inform her thinking. She provides the best sort of approach to assessment, one which is not technique driven, but is grounded in a theoretical approach to conceptualizing the childs experience of self and leads directly to engagement and intervention." Susan C. Warshaw, EdD, ABPP, editor in chief, Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy "Susan Parente's book is a true gift to child and adolescent psychotherapists! It is well-crafted, practical and based upon decades of clinical experience. If a picture is worth more than 1000 words, then an image-based assessment and treatment method that avoids the cognitive trap is invaluable."
Terry Marks-Tarlow, Ph.D., author of Play & Creativity in Psychotherapy, Clinical Intuition in Psychotherapy, and Awakening Clinical Intuition
"Parentes manual introduces us to the integrative thought processes of a master clinician. Creatively weaving a tapestry of multiple theoretical strands, she offers the reader an in-depth introduction to each of the theories that inform her thinking. She provides the best sort of approach to assessment, one which is not technique driven, but is grounded in a theoretical approach to conceptualizing the childs experience of self and leads directly to engagement and intervention." Susan C. Warshaw, EdD, ABPP, editor in chief, Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy
