Women, Girls & Psychotherapy

Adolescent girls'special needs in the teen-age years are thoroughly examined in Women, Girls & Psychotherapy, a compelling book focusing on the vitality of resistance in young girls. Drawing on studies of women's and girls'development, clinical work with girls and women, and their personal experiences, the voices of adolescent girls are used to reframe and greater understand their resistance against debilitating conventions of feminine behavior. As adolescent girls are often overlooked in feminist books in psychotherapy, this is an important volume as it looks positively at resistance, both as a political strategy and a health-sustaining process.The chapters cover such diverse topics as reconceptualizations of women's and girls'psychological development and the psychotherapy relationship; adolescent female sexuality; new approaches to psychological problems commonly seen in girls and women; female adolescent health; and diverse perspectives and experiences of growing up female. The voices of young women are increasingly important in the exploration of the field of psychotherapy and among the voices included are those from African-Americans, Asian-Americans, and lesbians. An enlightening look at resistance in females in the growing up years, this volume provides valuable insight on their experiences. The work of many researchers,therapists, and educators with diverse backgrounds, Women, Girls & Psychotherapy is an informative book on distinct psychological issues facing young females.

Gilligan, Carol; Rogers, Annie G; Tolman, Deborah L

Contents Introduction - Section I: Reframing Resistance - Women's Psychological Development: Implication for Psychotherapy - A Feminist Poetics of Psychotherapy - Adolescent Girls, Women and Sexuality: Discerning Dilemmas of Desire - Section II: Strategies of Resistance - Telling a Girl's Life: Self-Authorization as a Form of Resistance - "A Belief in Self Far Greater Than Anyone's Disbelief": Cultivating Resistance Among African-American Female Adolescents - Disavowing the Self in Female Adolescence - Teen Females in Minnesota: A Portrait of Quiet Disturbance - Section III: The Centrality of Relationships - Raising a Resister - Two-Part Inventions: Knowing What We Know - The Body at Play - Coming Out Against All Odds: Resistance in the Life of a Young Lesbian - Do You Have Eyelashes? - Section IV: Notes From the Underground - Adolescent Resistance and the Maladies of Women: Notes From the Underground - Crossing the Desert Alone: An Etiological Model of Female Adolescent Suicidality - Working With Adolescent Girls: Strategies to Address Health Status - When The Body Speaks: Girls, Eating Disorders and Psychotherapy - Index - Reference Notes Included