The use of a Puerto Rican poem in ego-supportive work with a sixteen-year-old adolescent is described. His positive response to reading poetry of his own people indicated that his ethnic identity, a core element of ego identity, was validated by the experience. The possible relationship between the bibliotherapeutic intervention and the course of the client's treatment is discussed, as are implications for the use of ethnically sensitive bibliotherapy in practice.
Child abuse experts agree that the single factor ultimately responsible for child maltreatment is the inability of parents to control their aggressive impulses. This paper describes a verbalizing, ego‐supportive intervention for work with potentially abusive parents. It is designed to give parents increased understanding of the experience of parenting and greater control over their angry impulses. The intervention is based on two well‐supported premises: anger towards one's children is natural and inevitable; and putting angry feelings and thoughts into words significantly diminishes the tendency to put them into action. The engagement, ego‐building and prevention benefits of the intervention are discussed.
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