Building a Therapeutic Alliance With Adolescent Boys

In this video program, Dr. Andrew P. Smiler works with an adolescent boy who displays characteristics of attention deficit disorder who has been facing difficulty in school due to disruptive behavioral tendencies.

During the session, Dr. Smiler asks a series of questions designed to increase the client's comfort talking about his world, including the motives that drive his behavior.

In the introduction to the video, Dr. Smiler discusses how important it is for therapists treating young male clients to adopt an approach that emphasizes decision-making alongside self-reflection, and to recognize the influence of power — and lack of power — on teen boys' functioning. Dr. Smiler also addresses the importance of risk-taking and therapeutic work based in clients' anger.

Andrew P. Smiler, PhD, is a therapist in private practice in Winston-Salem, NC, where he specializes in working with teen boys and adult men.

He is the author of several books, including the award winning Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy and, with Chris Kilmartin, coauthor of the best-selling Introduction to Men's Studies textbook, The Masculine Self, 6th edition.

Dr. Smiler is a past president of the Society for the Psychology of Men and Masculinities, a past board president of Male Survivor: National Organization Against Male Sexual Victimization, and the current Editor-in-Chief of Online Publications for the Society for Research on Adolescence.

• Englar-Carlson, M., & Stevens, M. (2006). In the room with men: A casebook of therapeutic change. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Lynch, J. R., & Kilmartin, C. (2013). Overcoming masculine depression (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge Press.
• Way, N. (2013). Deep secrets: Boys' friendships and the crisis of connection. Boston: Harvard University Press.

APA Videos

• Attachment-Based Family Therapy
  Guy S. Diamond
• Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Adolescent Depression
  John F. Curry
• Cognitive-Behavioral Group Play Interventions
  Linda A. Reddy
• Functional Family Therapy for High-Risk Adolescents
  James F. Alexander
• Mentalization-Based Treatment With a 10-Year-Old Boy
  Norka T. Malberg and Karin Ensink
• Prescriptive Integrative Play Therapy
  Athena A. Drewes

APA Books

• Empirically Based Play Interventions for Children, Second Edition
  Linda A. Reddy, Tara M. Files-Hall and Charles E. Schaefer
• Group Play Interventions for Children: Strategies for Teaching Prosocial Skills
  Linda A. Reddy
• How to Find Mental Health Care for Your Child
  Ellen B. Braaten
• Intervening in Children's Lives: An Ecological, Family-Centered Approach to Mental Health Care
  Thomas J. Dishion and Elizabeth A. Stormshak
• Play Therapy for Preschool Children
  Charles E. Schaefer
• Psychosocial Treatments for Child and Adolescent Disorders: Empirically Based Strategies for Clinical Practice, Second Edition
  Euthymia D. Hibbs and Peter S. Jensen

Magination Press Book

• Dating and Sex: A Guide for the 21st Century Teen Boy
  Andrew P. Smiler