{"title":"Books by Jon G. Allen","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781585621699","title":"Coping With Trauma","description":"\u003cp\u003eCombining years of research, teaching, and experience treating trauma survivors, Dr. Jon G. Allen offers compassionate and practical guidance to understanding trauma and its effects on the self and relationships. \u003ci\u003eCoping With Trauma\u003c\/i\u003e is based on more than a decade of Dr. Allen's experience conducting educational groups for persons struggling with psychiatric disorders stemming from trauma. Written for a general audience, this book does not require a background in psychology. Readers will gain essential knowledge to embark on the process of healing from the complex wounds of trauma, along with a guide to current treatment approaches.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn this supportive and informative work, readers will be introduced to and encouraged in the process of healing by an author who is both witness and guide. This clearly written, insightful book not only teaches clinicians about trauma but also, equally important, teaches clinicians how to educate their patients about trauma.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReshaped by recent developments in attachment theory, including the importance of cumulative stress over a lifetime, this compelling work retains the author's initial focus on attachment as he looks at trauma from two perspectives. From the \u003ci\u003epsychological perspective\u003c\/i\u003e, the author discusses the impact of trauma on emotion, memory, the self, and relationships, incorporating research from neuroscience to argue that trauma is a physical illness. From the \u003ci\u003epsychiatric perspective\u003c\/i\u003e, the author discusses various trauma-related disorders and symptoms: depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, and dissociative disorders, along with a range of self-destructive behaviors to which trauma can make a contribution.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eImportant updates include substantive and practical information on\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEmotion and emotion regulation, prompted by extensive contemporary research on emotion-which is becoming a science unto itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIllness, based on current developments in the neurobiological understanding of trauma.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDepression, a pervasive trauma-related problem that poses a number of catch-22s for recovery.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVarious forms of self-destructiveness—substance abuse, eating disorders, and deliberate self-harm—all construed as coping strategies that backfire.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSuicidal states and self-defeating aspects of personality disorders.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe author addresses the challenges of healing by reviewing strategies of emotion regulation as well as a wide range of sound treatment approaches. He concludes with a new chapter on the foundation of all healing: maintaining hope.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis exceptionally comprehensive overview of a wide range of traumatic experiences, written in nontechnical language with extensive references to both classic and contemporary theoretical, clinical, and research literature, offers a uniquely useful guide for victims of trauma, their family members, and mental health care professionals alike.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56303846982005,"sku":"9781585621699","price":44.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781585621699_88b3ae8a-7cd1-4152-badc-ce9675cf0489.jpg?v=1786023516"},{"product_id":"9781585623068","title":"Mentalizing in Clinical Practice","description":"\u003cp\u003eMentalizing, the fundamental human capacity to understand behavior in relation to mental states such as thoughts and feelings, is the basis of healthy relationships and self-awareness. A growing evidence base supports the effectiveness of mentalizing-focused interventions in the treatment of borderline personality disorder. This volume explores wider applications, construing mentalizing as a core common factor in the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic interventions that cuts across treatment modalities and theoretical approaches ranging from psychodynamic to interpersonal and cognitive therapies.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis book distills the burgeoning literature on mentalizing for clinicians of diverse professional backgrounds. The book is divided into two parts: Understanding Mentalizing fully explicates the concept of mentalizing and its foundations in developmental research and social-cognitive neuroscience; Practicing Mentalizing presents the general principles of psychotherapeutic interventions that promote mentalizing as well as a range of current clinical applications.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMentalizing is multifaceted-for example, pertaining to self and others as well as explicit and implicit processes—and links to myriad overlapping concepts including empathy, metacognition, theory of mind, mindfulness, and psychological mindedness.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTwo sides of research on the development of mentalizing in attachment relationships have significant clinical implications: interactions in secure attachment relationships enhance mentalizing and illuminate the conditions of optimal psychotherapeutic relationships; conversely, trauma in attachment relationships undermines the development of mentalizing and eventuates in developmental psychopathology that poses special challenges for psychotherapy.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNeuroimaging is illuminating diverse brain regions that contribute to mentalizing capacity, including a \"mentalizing region\" in the medial prefrontal cortex that is consistently activated in mentalizing tasks; concomitantly, research on autism and psychopathy attests to the neurobiological basis of psychopathologies in which stable impairments of mentalizing are most conspicuous.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn development and in psychotherapy, mentalizing begets mentalizing, as exemplified by a mentalizing stance that fosters inquisitiveness and curiosity about mental states in oneself and others; basic principles and clinical examples, including the use of transference, demonstrate the spirit and technique of mentalizing, capped off by a patient's first-hand account of mentalization-based treatment for borderline personality disorder.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAttachment trauma is the wellspring of disrupted mentalizing capacity, and a focus on mentalizing provides an integrative framework for psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral treatment of trauma as well as for parenting, family, and social-systems interventions directed toward interrupting the perpetuation of trauma in relationships.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePsychoeducational interventions, including patient education and structured exercises, are employed to cultivate a therapeutic alliance around mentalizing; the book includes a straightforward explanation clinicians can use with patients, \"What is Mentalizing and Why Do It?\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the chapter on mentalizing interventions, the authors propose to clinicians, \"You are already doing it.\" If the effectiveness of treatment depends on therapists mentalizing and helping their patients do so more consistently and skillfully, clinicians of all persuasions can benefit from the extensive knowledge now available to hone further their attention to this vital therapeutic process.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56304260678005,"sku":"9781585623068","price":64.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781585623068_ce74e492-e38d-4b7e-9d0f-f789e5f535f4.jpg?v=1786023518"},{"product_id":"9781585624188","title":"Restoring Mentalizing in Attachment Relationships","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn\u003ci\u003e Restoring Mentalizing in Attachment Relationships: Treating Trauma With Plain Old Therapy\u003c\/i\u003e, Jon G. Allen, Ph.D., argues that the incorporation of mentalizing into attachment theory and research provides a solid foundation for trauma treatment, and offers therapists and patients a pathway to recovery. In plain language accessible to clinicians and laypeople alike, Allen describes trauma in attachment relationships, reviews the literature, and makes a compelling, evidence-based argument for the efficacy of psychotherapy. Specifically, the book:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePresents a comprehensive view of attachment trauma across diverse diagnostic conditions, directly linking these to the psychotherapeutic interventions that work best.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAllows therapists from different theoretical frameworks, by using these best practices, to treat patients with a wide range of problems and disorders.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSituates mindfulness and mentalizing as central to secure attachment, focusing clinicians' attention on these most critical dimensions of healing relationships.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eProvides a thorough review of the research on attachment, mindfulness, and mentalizing, and evaluates the effectiveness of the most popular trauma treatments, thereby equipping clinicians to treat patients across the spectrum of trauma-related psychiatric disorders.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEmploys a down-to-earth, conversational writing style that makes the book accessible to patients and family members as well as to professionals.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTrauma can be the result of blatant events, such as violence, abuse, and neglect, or the subtle yet pervasive failure to connect. Both contribute to developmental psychopathology and cause lasting emotional pain. \"Plain old therapy,\" according to Allen, is a valuable and proven resource for addressing trauma and treating patients with complex psychiatric disorders. This fascinating and eminently useful book should help to restore psychotherapy to its well-deserved stature.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56305158652277,"sku":"9781585624188","price":56.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781585624188_865e160b-474a-48ee-a69e-4dd8d1de77e5.jpg?v=1786023520"},{"product_id":"trusting-in-psychotherapy","title":"Trusting in Psychotherapy","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe author posits that cultivating trusting psychotherapy bonds-especially for patients who have experienced developmental trauma in close relationships—is complex, challenging, and a critically important topic for examination.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57484100862325,"sku":"9781615373918","price":38.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781615373918.jpg?v=1786266133"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-jon-g-allen.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}