Linda Whitney Peterson, PhD

 

Dr. Peterson is an Emeritus Professor, formerly a tenured associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at the University of Nevada School of Medicine since l978. She teaches medical students at all four years and residents in Family Medicine.In her clinical practice, Dr. Peterson works with children suffering from acute and chronic illness with a specialty in childhood encopresis/eneresis; attention deficit disorder, diabetes, asthma, and pain of unknown origin. Her clinical area of expertise is post traumatic stress disorder, resulting from sexual, physical and emotional abuse. She has had a forensic practice for 20 years and is certified in mediation and custody evaluation. Linda’s website is: http://fammedn.med.unr.edu/peterson/index.html.

WORKSHOP CONTENT for ONE DAY Morning session
Art and drawing help traumatized children externalize and concretized their experience in a language than can then be cognitively reframed. The interpretation of these drawings has been subject to forensic, medical and psychological debate. With a 25- year practice in forensic medicine, Linda watched therapists struggle with criticism for over-analyzing children's art while at the same time being criticized for their inability to decipher drawings. Dr. Peterson conceived the idea of developing a book standardizing children's art.

Children in Distress: A Guide for Screening Children's Art, is based on a research sample of 864 abused and non-abused children ages, 6-10. Therapists are instructed, in systematic fashion, to use two screening instruments, the human figure drawing (HFD) and the kinetic family drawing (KFD). There is an easy-to learn scoring system to quantify children's art- work as normal, borderline or suspicious (refer).

In addition to teaching the scoring system and art identification, Linda presents a case of parental drug abuse and child reluctance to disclose abuse. In the context of art analysis, story telling and the Hewitt method, Linda puts a real life case together to show the components of multi-layered screening. Dr. Peterson has taught this approach nationally for the Trauma and Loss Center (TLC) and internationally in, Germany, France, England and Australia. Children in Distress has been translated in Japanese and Czechoslovakian.

WORKSHOP CONTENT for ONE DAY Afternoon session
Most recently, Linda has become impressed with the power of film to instruct. Using the Horse Whisperer movie, Linda teaches the principles of Behavior analysis, noting appropriate and inappropriate interventions when dealing with traumatized children and their parents. Participants learn how to assist parents to actively listen to their traumatized child, reframe negative thinking and speaking, apply behavior analysis principles, appreciate the value of metaphor and understand the elements of sensory-based trauma resolution. Linda uses the booklet she published for participants to learn how to use clips from one of the most powerful films produced on the ways trauma should and should not, be handled. This work is taught widely throughout the US to medical, school, court and trauma workers in certification programs with TLC.

Other workshops are available that include: Depth Psychology: the Use of Journaling for Self-Discovery; Custody and Divorce Evaluations; Attention Deficit v.s. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder; and Resiliancy: What makes some adolescents thrive while others mal adapt? (Film clips from White Orleander are contrasted with film clips from the movie Sybil).

My basic philosophy is best illistrated by the following poem. I believe that a person can achieve the greatest sense of self esteem and happiness by being in service to others. My poem, "The Thistle" is related to this.

When in service, one must be aware that the person served has to progress in their own timing (seeds germinate only when the soil is ready). One should stay in balance between putting out the seeds (words) and not pulling up the seedlings. So often therapists become discouraged with themselves when things don't progress as we see fit. Truth is, we can give what we have to give, but not be overly obsessed with the outcome.

Many times, something I've said has returned to me years later, as helpful to someone and sometimes when I think I've done a stellar job, it has not helped at all. Thus we must live with no judgement, no comparisons, no need to understand.

A THISTLE,
SOFT,
FLOWING,
RELEASING SEEDS.
THIS IS A TIME TO GIVE BACK.
THE THISTLE IS MATURE,
FLOATING,
PENETRATING.
SEEDS GERMINATE ONLY
WHERE THE SOIL IS READY.
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO
IS RELEASE THEM.
NO JUDGEMENT, NO COMPARISONS,
NO NEED TO UNDERSTAND.
(Linda W. Peterson, 1999)