This book offers a thorough examination and discussion of the evidence on attachment, its influence on development, and attachment disorders. In Part One, the authors outline attachment theory, the influence of sensitive and insensitive caregiving and the applicability of attachment theory across cultures. Part Two presents the various instruments used to assess attachment and caregiving. Part Three outlines the influence of attachment security on the child's functioning. Part Four examines the poorly understood phenomenon of attachment disorder. Presenting the evidence of scientific research, the authors reveal how attachment disorders may be properly conceptualised. Referring to some of the wilder claims made about attachment disorder, they argue for a disciplined, scientific approach that is grounded in both attachment theory and the evidence base. The final part is an overview of evidence-based interventions designed to help individuals form secure attachments. Summarising the existing knowledge base in accessible language, this is a comprehensive reference book for professionals including social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, teachers, lawyers and researchers. Foster and adoptive parents, indeed all parents, and students will also find it of interest.

Widely regarded as the state-of-the-science reference on attachment, this handbook interweaves theory and cutting-edge research with clinical applications. Leading researchers examine the origins and development of attachment theory; present biological and evolutionary perspectives; and explore the role of attachment processes in relationships, including both parent–child and romantic bonds. Implications for mental health and psychotherapy are addressed, with reviews of exemplary attachment-oriented interventions for children and adolescents, adults, couples, and families. Contributors discuss best practices in assessment and critically evaluate available instruments and protocols. New to This Edition *Chapters on genetics and epigenetics, psychoneuroimmunology, and sexual mating. *Chapters on compassion, school readiness, and the caregiving system across the lifespan. *Chapter probing the relation between attachment and other developmental influences. *Nearly a decade's worth of theoretical and empirical advances.

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The Routledge Handbook of Attachment: Implications and Interventions offers an introduction to therapies produced as a result of the popularity of attachment studies. These therapies can be divided into two categories: those that are ‘attachment-based’, in that they use evidence-based attachment assessments in their development, or ‘attachment-informed’, in that the theories of attachment have been integrated into the practice of existing schools of therapy. The book reviews the field and provides a range of interventions for children, adults and parents, beginning with a detailed review of both evidence-base and evidence-informed interventions including individual psychotherapy, family therapy and parenting. The remaining chapters provide accounts, from the practitioner’s perspective, of interventions that address issues of attachment from the level of one-to-one therapy, family and social work to social interventions involving courts and Care Proceedings, illustrated with examples from day-to-day practice. Discussing how an understanding of formal assessments of attachment can be used to inform therapeutic, social and legal interventions to assist and protect children, The Routledge Handbook of Attachment: Implications and Interventions is an indispensable guide for clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers working with children and families, clinicians in training and students.

Coercive interactions and conflict are commonplace in close relationships and families, friendships, and teacher-student relationships in schools. Coercion and conflict can be used to grow stronger relationships, or they can lead to the deterioration of relationships, undermine efforts to socialize and teach youth, and lead to the development of mental health problems in children and parents. Coercion theory helps shed light on how these daily interaction dynamics explain the development of aggression, marital conflict, depression, and severe mental health problems in families and how they undermine school safety and effectiveness. The Oxford Handbook of Coercive Relationship Dynamics features the most recent, innovative applications of coercion theory to understanding psychopathology, developmental theory, and intervention science. The volume provides a multidisciplinary perspective on coercive processes, origins, and social functions to anchor coercion theory from multiple perspectives and to lay a theoretical and empirical foundation for innovative expansion of the coercion model to new areas of research. The volume gives specific examples of how the basic coercive processes underlie the development of significant suffering in children and families, and chapters include clinically oriented discussions of research on the role of coercion in the causation and amplification of problem behavior and emotional distress. The internationally renowned authors of this volume highlight scientific advances in the study of coercive dynamics in families and close relationships, account for physiological and genetic correlates of coercive dynamics, and discuss the application of coercion theory to effective interventions that improve the quality and well-being of children, adolescents, and adults. This volume is an invaluable resource on behavioral science methodology, developmental theory, and intervention science.

The first volume to showcase science-based interventions that have been demonstrated effective in promoting attachment security, this is a vital reference and clinical guide for practitioners. With a major focus on strengthening caregiving relationships in early childhood, the Handbook also includes interventions for school-age children; at-risk adolescents; and couples, with an emphasis on father involvement in parenting. A consistent theme is working with children and parents who have been exposed to trauma and other adverse circumstances. Leading authorities describe how their respective approaches are informed by attachment theory and research, how sessions are structured and conducted, special techniques used (such as video feedback), the empirical evidence base for the approach, and training requirements. Many chapters include illustrative case material.

"This comprehensive work is more than just the standard reference on attachment theory and research - it has helped to define and shape this rapidly growing field."--Inside jacket.

Since its original publication in 1996, this volume has been a helpful guide to therapists in the practice of emotionally focused therapy. This second edition addresses the many changes in the field of couples therapy, including updated research results linked to clinical intervention and new information on using EFT to address depression and PTSD. A new section covers the growth of couples therapy as a field and its overall relevance to the mental health field, accompanied by coverage of how recent research into the nature of marital distress is consonant with EFT. Other new features are a section on EFT and feminism, as well as a section on cultural competence for the EFT therapist. Written by a leading authority on emotionally focused couples and marital therapy, this second edition is an up-to-date reference on all aspects of EFT and its uses for mental health professionals.

To be a human being (or indeed to be a primate) is to be attached to other fellow beings in relationships, from infancy on. This book examines what happens when the mechanisms of early attachment go awry, when caregiver and child do not form a relationship in which the child finds security in times of uncertainty and stress. Although John Bowlby, a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, originally formulated attachment theory for the express purpose of understanding psychopathology across the life span, the concept of attachment was first adopted by psychologists studying typical development. In recent years, clinicians have rediscovered the potential of attachment theory to help them understand psychological/psychiatric disturbance, a potential that has now been amplified by decades of research on typical development. Attachment Issues in Psychopathology and Intervention is the first book to offer a comprehensive overview of the implications of current attachment research and theory for conceptualizing psychopathology and planning effective intervention efforts. It usefully integrates attachment considerations into other frameworks within which psychopathology has been described and points new directions for investigation. The contributors, who include some of the major architects of attachment theory, link what we have learned about attachment to difficulties across the life span, such as failure to thrive, social withdrawal, aggression, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, dissociation, trauma, schizo-affective disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, eating disorders, and comorbid disorders. While all chapters are illuminated by rich case examples and discuss intervention at length, half focus solely on interventions informed by attachment theory, such as toddler-parent psychotherapy and emotionally focused couples therapy. Mental health professionals and researchers alike will find much in this book to stimulate and facilitate effective new approaches to their work.

Rev. ed. of: The child's world: assessing children in need. 2001.