Intervention strategies for treating traumatized siblings on a pediatric inpatient unit.

This article examines the course of treatment for 2 traumatized siblings in an acute inpatient child psychiatric unit following severe physical abuse by their mother. In treating these 2 boys, the authors used intervention strategies that can be applied to the treatment of other traumatized siblings in institutional settings. Issues of self-worth, survivor guilt, and conflictual sibling dynamics are illustrated as they relate to the treatment. In addition, transference-countertransference dynamics are examined.