Annita B Jones, PsyD
Bio
Annita B. Jones, PsyD has worked with the ageless victims of trauma for over 30 years. She has presented internationally on the treatment of self-injury used as a way of coping with urgency of overwhelming stimulation. She is in private practice in Allentown Pennsylvania, and is currently working on a book on the topic of self-injurious behavior.
What Led to the Specialization of Trauma?
Annita shares her experience of being profoundly impacted from what her friends and relatives were going through as they returned from the Vietnam War.
A Crucial Early Mistake
Annita talks about an early experience she had working with a young client who was dissociating and the expectations Annita had for how she felt this client should be responding and her accompanying frustration. When Annita relayed this to her seasoned supervisor at the time her supervisor wisely said: Why should she respond the way you think she should? These simple words had a strong influence on the way Annita would go on to develop her skills.
Annita’s Why
Because I see the change and watch it happen, and now I can teach others!
Annita’s Advice
- Have your own issues in check before you begin practicing in the field
- Be aware of whose issues you’re working with–yours or your clients. If it’s yours, then you’re in the wrong room!
Annita’s go-to books
- Traumatic Stress: The Effects of Overwhelming Experience on Mind, Body, and Society, Bessel A. van der Kolk MD
- The Many Faces of Shame, Nathanson
- The Mindful Therapist: A Clinician’s Guide to Mindsight and Neural Integration (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology), Daniel J. Siegel
- Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation, Daniel J. Siegel