Books for Professionals

About Our Book Lists

These book lists were compiled and recommended by the Board of Directors. We hope you see some of your favorites and discover new ones. Some titles are out of print, but not out of style! They are listed at the bottom of each page and are definitely worth a trip to your local used bookstore or library.
We have organized our book list recommendations in three sections:

For your convenience all of our links are direct to Amazon.

A list of suggested books for professionals

Books that support the principles and practices of Infant Mental Health can be used by a number of disciplines involved with the care, development, treatment, and education of young children, aged birth to 5. The Board of Directors has selected books that range from clinical texts to ones that have practical applications in various settings. We hope you see some of your favorites and discover new ones. Some titles are out of print, but not out of style! They are listed at the bottom of each page and are definitely worth a trip to your local used bookstore or library.


A Child’s Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play

by Vivian Gussin Paley


A General Theory of Love
by Thomas Lewis, Fari Amini, and Richard Lannon


A Secure Base: Parent-Child Attachment and Healthy Human Development
by John Bowlby


A Shining Affliction: A Story of Harm and Healing in Psychotherapy
by Annie G. Rogers

 


Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development
by Allan N. Schore

 


Attachment: Attachment and Loss
by John Bowlby


Autism Spectrum Disorders in Infants and Toddlers: Diagnosis, Assessment, and Treatment by Katarzyna  Chawarska et al.


Bad Guys Don’t Have Birthdays: Fantasy Play at Four
by Vivian Gussin Paley


Case Studies in Infant Mental Health: Risk, Resiliency, and Relationships
by Joan J. Shirilla and Deborah Weatherston eds.


Descartes’ Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain
by Antonio R. Damasio


Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood, (DC: 0-3R)
by Zero to Three


Don’t Hit My Mommy! A Manual for Child-Parent Psychotherapy With Young Children Exposed to Violence and Other Trauma (2nd Edition)
by Alicia F. Lieberman and Patricia Van Horn


Early Intervention for Trauma and Traumatic Loss
by  Brett T. Litz


Family Evaluation: The Role of the Family as an Emotional Unit that Governs Individual Behavior and Development
by Michael E. Kerr and Murray Bowen


From Child Sexual Abuse to Adult Sexual Risk: Trauma, Revictimization, and Intervention 
by Linda J Koenig, Lynda S Doll, and Ann O’Leary


Ghost Girl: The True Story of a Child in Peril and the Teacher Who Saved Her 
by Tory L. Hayden


Ghosts from the Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence  (Revised and Updated Edition)
by Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith S. Wiley


Handbook of Infant Mental Health, Third Edition
by Charles Zeanah ed.


Healing Trauma: Attachment, Mind, Body, and Brain
by Daniel J. Siegel and Marion Solomon


Heartwounds: The Impact of Unresolved Trauma and Grief on Relationships

by  Tian Dayton


Helping Abused and Traumatized Children: Integrating Directive and Nondirective Approaches
by Eliana Gil


How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character
by Paul Tough


Human Behavior, Learning, and the Developing Brain: Atypical Development
by Donna Coch, Geraldine Dawson, and Kurt W. Fischer


Human Behavior, Learning, and the Developing Brain: Typical Development 
by Donna Coch, Geraldine Dawson, and Kurt W. Fischer


In Mrs. Tully’s Room: A Childcare Portrait
by Vivian Gussin Paley


Inside the Brain: Revolutionary Discoveries of How the Mind Works
by Ronald Kotulak


Kwanzaa and Me: A Teacher’s Story
by Vivian Gussin Paley


Losing a Parent to Death in the Early Years: Guidelines for the Treatment of Traumatic Bereavement in Infancy and Early Childhood
by Alicia F. Lieberman, Nance C. Compton, Patricia Van Horn, and Chandra Ghosh Ippen


Loss: Sadness and Depression
by  John Bowlby


Mollie Is Three: Growing Up in School 
by Vivian Gussin Paley


No Small Matter: The Impact of Poverty, Shocks, and Human Capital Investments in Early Childhood Development (Human Development Perspectives)
by Harold Alderman


One Child
by Tory L. Hayden


Pocket Guide to Interpersonal Neurobiology: An Integrative Handbook of the Mind
by Daniel J.  Siegel


Psychotherapy with Infants and Young Children: Repairing the Effects of Stress and Trauma on Early Attachment
by Alicia F.  Lieberman


Scared Sick: The Role of Childhood Trauma in Adult Disease
by Robin Karr-Morse and Meredith S. Wiley


Sensory Integration and Self-Regulation in Infants and Toddlers: Helping Very Young Children Interact with Their Environment
by G. Gordon Williamson and Marie E. Anzalone


Separation: Anxiety and Anger
by John Bowlby


Talks with Teachers of Young Children: A Collection
by Lilian Katz


Temperament in Context
by Theodore D. Wachs ed.


The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
by Bessel A. van der Kolk


The Boy on the Beach: Building Community through Play
by Vivian Gussin Paley


The Boy Who Was Raised as a Dog: And Other Stories from a Child Psychiatrist’s Notebook–What Traumatized Children Can Teach Us About Loss, Love, and Healing
by Bruce Perry and Maia Szalavitz


The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter
by Vivian Gussin Paley


The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science
by Norman Doidge


The Dancing Dialogue: Using the Communicative Power of Movement with Young Children
by Suzi Tortora


The Developing Mind, Second Edition: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are
by Daniel J. Siegel


The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self
by Alice Miller


The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life
by  Joseph LeDoux


The Girl with the Brown Crayon: How Childen Use Stories to Shape Their Lives
by Vivian Gussin Paley


The Growth of the Mind: And the Endangered Origins of Intelligence
by  Stanley I. Greenspan


The Heart of Addiction: A New Approach to Understanding and Managing Alcoholism and Other Addictive Behaviors
by Lance Dodes


The Impact of Early Life Trauma on Health and Disease: The Hidden Epidemic
by Ruth A. Lanius, Eric Vermetten, and Clare Pain


The Kindness of Children
by Vivian Gussin Paley


The Middle of Everywhere: Helping Refugees Enter the American Community
by Mary Bray Pipher


The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being
by Daniel J. Siegel


The Mindful Therapist: A Clinician’s Guide to Mindsight and Neural Integration
by Daniel J. Siegel


The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation
by Stephen Porges


The Psychological Birth of the Human Infant: Symbiosis and Individuation
by Margaret S.Mahler, Fred Pine, and Anni Bergman


The Scientist in the Crib: What Early Learning Tells Us About the Mind
by Alison Gopnik, Andrew N. Meltzoff, and Patricia Katherine Kuhl,


The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures
by Anne Fadiman


The Sum of My Parts: A Survivor’s Story of Dissociative Identity Disorder
by Olga Trujillo JD.


The Whole-Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind
by Daniel J. Siegel


Theraplay: Helping Parents and Children Build Better Relationships Through Attachment-Based Play (3rd Edition)
by Phyllis Booth and Ann M. Jernberg


Too Scared To Cry: Psychic Trauma In Childhood
by Lenore Terr


Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence–From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror
by Judith Lewis Herman M.D


Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy
by  Minton Ogden


Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society
by Bessel A. van der Kolk, Alexander C. McFarlane, and Lars Weisaeth


Treating Complex Traumatic Stress Disorders in Children and Adolescents: Scientific Foundations and Therapeutic Models
by  Julian D. Ford PhD and Christine A. Courtois PhD


Treating Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents: How to Foster Resilience through Attachment, Self-Regulation, and Competency
by  Margaret E. Blaustein and Kristine M. Kinniburgh


Understanding Dissociative Disorders: A Guide for Family Physicians and Health Care Professionals
by  Marlene E. Hunter M.D.


Unsmiling Faces
by Leslie Koplow ed.


Wally’s Stories
by Vivian Gussin Paley


When the Body Says No: Exploring the Stress-Disease Connection
by Gabor Mate M.D.


White Teacher (2nd Edition)
by Vivian Gussin Paley


You Can’t Say You Can’t Play
by Vivian Gussin Paley

**Out of print titles available through other vendors on Amazon


**See Poverty…Be the Difference
by Donna M. Beegle

The Human Revolution
**The Human Revolution
by Ashley Montagu


**The Maturational Process and the Facilitating Environment: Studies in the Theory of Emotional Development
by D.W. Winnicott


**Young Children and Foster Care: A Guide for Professionals
by Judith Silver ed.