Lessons from the Lion's Den: Therapeutic Management of Children in Psychiatric Hospitals and Treatment Centers

There are few books available that so readily capture the realities of working with deeply troubled children. Reprinting this classic work will contribute to the quality healing work to which the best practitioners are committed. As stated by Dr. Craig Latham, Ph.D., a nationally recognized forensic psychologist who works daily with this population: “Too often, those of us treating children in residential facilities or hospitals become preoccupied with the goal of maintaining a safe and orderly environment at the expense of everything else. We create elaborate behavioral plans, as though rewards and sanctions alone, cleverly bestowed and imposed, were enough. Dr. Cotton reminds us of the profound, yet often overlooked truth that there is meaning in the angry, disruptive, disorganized, and occasionally spiteful behavior of distressed children. She encourages us to hunt for that meaning, and to create a therapeutic holding environment in which safety and stability originate with the experience of being heard and understood." This clearly written book, filled with vivid case examples and an updated section on the behavioral implications of pervasive developmental delay, is a must for everyone working in residential or hospital settings. Like Albert Trieschman's classic, The Other Twenty Three Hours, which revolutionized thinking about residential care thirty-five years ago and is still relevant, Lessons from the Lion's Den is worth reading and reading again.