Treating Self-Destructive Behaviors in Trauma Survivors, 2nd ed, is a comprehensive guide for clinicians dedicated to assisting trauma survivors. Throughout treatment, therapists may encounter clients disclosing self-destructive behaviors, including self-mutilation and other means of deliberately "hurting the body" such as bingeing, purging, starving, substance abuse, and other addictive behaviors.

Renowned clinician Lisa Ferentz introduces viable treatment alternatives, assessment tools, and new ways of understanding self-destructive behavior through a strengths-based approach. This method differentiates between the "experimental" non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) that some teenagers engage in occasionally and the repetitive and chronic self-destructive behaviors.

In this edition, numerous treatment strategies are cross-referenced to a practical workbook, offering therapists and clients concrete methods to integrate theory into practice. Ferentz emphasizes the significance of assessing and enhancing clients' self-compassion, explaining how nurturing this concept cognitively, emotionally, and somatically can become a catalyst for motivation and change.

The book also explores a cycle of behavior that clinicians can personalize and use as a template for treatment. The final sections focus on counter-transferential responses and various ways therapists can work with self-destructive behaviors while avoiding vicarious traumatization by adopting tools and strategies for self-care.