Rebuilding security: group therapy with children affected by September 11.
This article examines group therapy with children and adolescents impacted by the September 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center, with a focus on the role of metaphor, enactment, and the creative arts therapies in trauma treatment. Attention is given to the importance of fantasies, family structure, and culture in determining how the child constructs and processes the events. Examples are derived from ongoing, trauma-focused groups with traumatically bereaved children who lost parents, as well as from ongoing drama therapy groups in which traumatic themes emerged.
Haen
Craig
C
Adolescent Services for Kids in Crisis, Cos Cob, Connecticut 06807, USA. cmhaen@gmail.com
D002648:Child; D004532:Ego; D005201:Fantasy; D006801:Humans; D011615:Psychotherapy, Group / Q000379:methods*; D047851:September 11 Terrorist Attacks / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000209:etiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*