ABSTRACT
Where do you start when a new child client comes to your offi ce? Insurance companies may require you to fi nd a label for the child in the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual , but does that assist you with knowing what is really troubling your client and, most importantly, how to move your client toward health? I have previously argued (Silberg, 2001b, p. 4) that at their most useful, our “classifi cation schemes are a mutually agreed on narrative, an abbreviated story that distills the essence of the problem, about which the client and therapist share mutual assumptions.” The most useful naming and classifi cation schemes would be “healing stories” that potentiate grown and recovery. So this chapter will not discuss questions of differential diagnoses or debate whether traumatized children are best characterized as having Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specifi ed, or even Developmental Trauma Disorder.
