An innovative clinical approach to working with children and adolescents who have been sexually abused - the Internalization Model - is presented in this volume. It is designed to increase the therapists recognition and understanding of the effects of such abuse on a young victims internal sense of self and world.

The author argues that abuse-related internalizations, not the symptomatic behaviours resulting from these internalizations, need to be addressed in therapy. Wieland describes a psychodynamic trauma-focused therapy - which includes aspects of psychoanalytic, behavioural and cognitive therapies - which has resulted in positive changes such as children beginning to engage in age-appropriate play and adolesc