Emotional disorders are psychological conditions that affect how a person manages and experiences their emotions. They can range in seriousness (from occasional sadness and anxiety to depression and bipolar disorder) and have a significant impact on a person’s quality of life.

Emotional Disorders: What to Do and What to Avoid is a practical guide that offers primary school teachers simple strategies to use in the classroom to successfully deal with 15 problematic behaviours that are typical of emotional disorders, suggesting how to act and how not to.

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BOOK STRUCTURE AND CONTENTS

Emotional Disorders – What to do and what to avoid is divided into 15 chapters, grouped into 3 macro-sections: anger, sadness, anxiety

1. Anger

(The child…)

• Interrupts the lesson
• Breaks other people’s belongings
• Does not follow classroom rules
• Bullies others
• Uses inappropriate language

2. Sadness

• Often appears sad
• Shows little motivation during activities
• Believes he/she is worthless
• Complains about being unfairly judged by others
• Tends to believe he/she will never succeed or achieve good results

3. Anxiety

• Struggles to enter the classroom
• Leaves work unfinished or blank
• Frequently seeks reassurance from the teacher
• Avoids group games
• Does not participate in class activities

WHAT TO DO AND WHAT TO AVOID

The reason for each behaviour is initially explained in a few brief sentences (Why does he/she do this?), followed by simple and clear indications for the teacher on the attitudes to be adopted and avoided (What to do, What NOT to do).  A discussion on the topic follows (What to keep in mind) and tools and strategies are provided in How to intervene about some crucial educational and didactic aspects. A final Don’t forget That… paragraph is devoted to important and focused suggestions for the teacher to keep in mind.

Each chapter contains:

At the beginning of each chapter, a drawing introduces the analysed behaviour.

• Explanations of the problem behaviour being considered: Why does he/she do this?
• Brief and simple indications that can be useful to the teacher as a reference point for quickly deciding What to do and reflect on What to avoid.

• A more in-depth description of the specific problem behaviourbeing worked on: Analysis of the problem behaviour.
• The tools and educational strategies to create the intervention: How to intervene.

Each chapter closes with advice and strategies to further understand and enrich the teacher’s “briefcase of educational tools”.

Leaf through some pages of volume which have been translated into English to facilitate your evaluation of the product.

THE AUTHOR

Erika Panchieri is a psychologist and cognitive-behavioural psychotherapist, with advanced training in cognitive and neuropsychological assessment and a specialist in learning psychopathology. In addition to psychotherapy, she focuses primarily on the diagnosis and treatment of developmental psychopathology. She works in private clinical practice and collaborates as a consultant and trainer with schools, associations, and organisations. She also provides supervision for teachers, educators, and social and healthcare professionals.

Discover all the volumes of the series
What to do and what to avoid