<\/p>\u201cHere is the gold standard.\u201d\u00a0 If I read that pathetic claim on the back of one more book cover, I fear going on an armed rampage through the publishing houses of New York.\u00a0 Has the hysteria of the world gotten so bad that we won\u2019t give consideration to anything new unless we claim on the back cover that it is the best, most outstanding, or \u201cthe new gold standard?\u201d\u00a0 It makes you want to puke.\u00a0 And damn if when I start to open Laurence Miller\u2019s Counseling Crime Victims:\u00a0 Practical Strategies for Mental Health Professionals<\/span><\/i><\/b> (Springer, New York, NY, 2008) right on the back cover it claims to set the new gold standard.\u00a0 I know this guy, digitally at least.\u00a0 How could he allow the publisher to make such a disgusting claim?\u00a0 I expect more from you Dr. Miller, except no way around it, this book is so good that it does set a new gold standard.<\/span>\n

$\"COunceling$ <\/a>
Book review of \u201cCounseling Crime Victims: Practical Strategies for Mental Health Professionals\u201d by Laurence Miller.<\/p><\/div>\n
I started on an easy saunter through this book figuring I\u2019d skim most of it, but frankly I started finding I was making a paralinguistic cue every two or three minutes, mostly nasal hums and head shaking, as I read many phrases that explained some interesting material about crime victims.\u00a0 I knew most of the stuff, but frankly I had gotten a little lazy as my familiarity was reduced by the lack of incidence in my practice.\u00a0 I don\u2019t treat that many victims except after terrorist acts.\u00a0 There were sections like \u201cPTSD in the Elderly\u201d where I just didn\u2019t have that many elderly clients so it was pretty new stuff, and research that explained what I practiced but never knew the science behind.\u00a0 Dr. Miller is thorough as hell and after the first half hour I had figured this was a book I was going to keep permanently as a reference for speeches I give, programs I was developing, or court cases that I was hired on.\u00a0 I felt like I had found a nice shiny piece of jewelry \u2013 okay, I\u2019ll admit, a gold standard.<\/span><\/p>\n
Dr. Miller has done all the work for you.\u00a0 There are tons of research studies, tons of useful information, tons of practical advice on how to organize you approach to crime victims in crimes from sexual assault, to domestic violence, to homicides, even to terrorist acts.\u00a0 He talks about what the people go through when they are a victim of a criminal act and what types of approaches work for each of the victims, at least in theory.\u00a0 The section on school violence and bullying was particularly useful to me as I was busy preparing for a civil trial where the parent\u2019s frustration with the school in not handling a bullying incident was central to the trials actions.\u00a0 This was a profoundly useful book and the research really makes you stand up and shout \u201cso that\u2019s why we do it that way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n
If there is a criticism of this extremely thorough treatise it would have to do with style more than material.\u00a0 It is the same criticism I have for most academic material that speak about therapy.\u00a0 To make therapy material fully accessible to the largest number of readers, you must tell people what to say when they sit across from a patient, not just how to think about the treatment.\u00a0 Actually tell them what to say.\u00a0 Essential, more anecdotal stories intermixed with the research gets the obsessive minds of most therapists fantasizing about what they would say in that situation and then they start the rehearsal process for a patient in their future.\u00a0 Adler, Meichenbaum, Erikson, and especially Albert Ellis integrated the narrative with research to an art form.\u00a0 Dr. Miller\u2019s book was not that type of book and Springer is not that type of publisher, but that would make it the most accessible to everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n
Take this criticism with a grain of salt because Dr. Miller\u2019s Counseling Crime Victims<\/span><\/i><\/b>is extremely effective just as it is, and it will occupy a central spot on my bookshelf as I expect to be referring to it a lot to remind me of what I know, what I have forgotten, and highlight some new ways to think about a doing therapy with a crime victim.\u00a0 You really might want to check this book out if you have a therapy practice.\u00a0 It is really a golden find, so to speak.<\/span><\/p>\n
If you enjoyed this book review, sign up to receive updates for more posts on the latest in police psychology and stress management.<\/p>\n
Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D. ABPP
\n<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n
For books by Dr. Gary S. Aumiller got to www.myherodad.com or www.myheromom.com<\/span><\/p>\n
Join me on Facebook or Linkedin (see sidebar)<\/span><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cHere is the gold standard.\u201d\u00a0 If I read that pathetic claim on the back of one more book cover, I fear going on an armed rampage through the publishing houses of New York.\u00a0 Has the hysteria of the world gotten so bad that we won\u2019t give consideration to anything new unless we claim on the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17168876],"tags":[17168796,17168812,17168800,17168797,17168811],"class_list":["post-46","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","tag-book-review","tag-bullying","tag-mental-health","tag-police-psychology","tag-ptsd"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3979,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=3979","url_meta":{"origin":46,"position":0},"title":"Police Psychology | An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"August 30, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure Robert John Zagar PhD MPH and Brandon Northern Current ways of finding challenges like trauma and stress miss 61% of at-risk. Conventional approaches of interviews, background checks, and short paper and pencil tests are less than chance\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Police Stress"","block_context":{"text":"Police Stress","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168885"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=11","url_meta":{"origin":46,"position":1},"title":"Book Review: “Psychological Aspects of Crisis Negotiation”","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"January 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"What hits you first is the organization of the material.\u00a0 When I read Psychological Aspects of Crisis Negotiation by Thomas Strenz (Taylor and Francis Publishers, Boca Raton, Fla. 2006), I didn\u2019t expect to see what I saw.\u00a0 I guess I expected another rehashing of hostage negotiation materials, but what I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Books"","block_context":{"text":"Books","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168876"},"img":{"alt_text":"Thomas Strenz","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/strenz-199x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":42,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=42","url_meta":{"origin":46,"position":2},"title":"Interview: The Terrorist Hunter with Kathleen Puckett","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"January 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I was particularly interested in the lone terrorist because I was in Phoenix this January visiting friends when Jared Loughner shot and killed six people, injuring 19, in nearby Tucson.\u00a0 There has to be a way for mental health professionals to see this coming. \u00a0\u00a0I wanted to look into the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Public Information Bureau"","block_context":{"text":"Public Information Bureau","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168888"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hunting the American Terrorist","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/puckett.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3646,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=3646","url_meta":{"origin":46,"position":3},"title":"Police Psychology | Stalking the Stalker","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"August 1, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | Stalking the Stalker Hamish Brown, MBE Hamish retired in 2004 as a Detective Inspector on the Specialist Crime Directorate at New Scotland Yard after over 30 years service with the Metropolitan Police, London England \u00a0 It is easy to think stalking is all about celebrities and the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Public Information Bureau"","block_context":{"text":"Public Information Bureau","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168888"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6450,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=6450","url_meta":{"origin":46,"position":4},"title":"Police Psychology: Choir Practice","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"September 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology:\u00a0 Choir Practice by Gary S. Aumiller, Ph.D.\u00a0 ABPP \u00a0 In 1975, Joseph Wambaugh named it, when a group of cops go out after their shift for nights of drinking, camaraderie and debauchery.\u00a0 They would get drunk, be obnoxious to regular citizens and have sex with a variety of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mastering Change"","block_context":{"text":"Mastering Change","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168881"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/policepsychologyblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/drinking-cop-300x230.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1456,"url":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?p=1456","url_meta":{"origin":46,"position":5},"title":"Police Psychology | \u201cBRING A BUDDY\u201d","author":"Gary Aumiller","date":"April 12, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Police Psychology | \u201cBRING A BUDDY\u201d By: Marla Friedman, Psy.D. PC Police Psychologist Executive Board-Badge of Life For years I have been training First Responders on the importance of seeking and maintaining good mental health. As you can imagine I\u2019ve come up against a lot of resistance. Fighting the stigma\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Other Tools"","block_context":{"text":"Other Tools","link":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/?cat=17168889"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p60sbO-K","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":274,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46\/revisions\/274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/policepsychologyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}