Drawing on cutting-edge research on adult attachment--and providing an innovative roadmap for clinical practice--Susan M. Johnson argues that psychotherapy is most effective when it focuses on the healing power of emotional connection. The primary developer of emotionally focused therapy (EFT) for couples, Johnson now extends her attachment-based approach to individuals and families. The volume shows how EFT aligns perfectly with attachment theory as it provides proven techniques for treating anxiety, depression, and relationship problems. Each modality (individual, couple, and family therapy) is covered in paired chapters that respectively introduce key concepts and present an in-depth case example. Special features include instructive end-of-chapter exercises and reflection questions.

This practical book presents cutting-edge approaches to couple and family therapy that use attachment theory as the basis for new clinical understandings. Fresh and provocative insights are provided on the nature of interactions between adult partners and among parents and children; the role of attachment in distressed and satisfying relationships; and the ways attachment-oriented interventions can address individual problems as well as marital conflict and difficult family transitions. With contributions from leading clinicians and researchers, the volume offers both general strategies and specific techniques for helping clients build stronger, more supportive relational bonds.

Attachment research has tremendous potential for helping clinicians understand what happens when parent–child bonds are disrupted, and what can be done to help. Yet there remains a large gap between theory and practice in this area. This book reviews what is known about attachment and translates it into practical guidelines for therapeutic work. Leading scientist-practitioners present innovative strategies for assessing and intervening in parent–child relationship problems; helping young children recover from maltreatment or trauma; and promoting healthy development in adoptive and foster families. Detailed case material in every chapter illustrates the applications of research-based concepts and tools in real-world clinical practice.

In the fifty years since its inception, John Bowlby’s attachment theory has been powerfully influential on developmental psychology and, more recently, mental health. Bringing together the experience of a diverse range of mental health practitioners and researchers who routinely use attachment theory in their own work, Attachment Theory in Adult Mental Health provides a guide to using attachment theory in everyday practice. Adam N. Danquah and Katherine Berry present a wide-ranging and practical approach to the topic which includes studies on clinical practice, the provision of mental health services and accommodating intercultural perspectives. Section One covers the basics of attachment theory and practice. Section Two presents clinical problems and presentations including, among others, the treatment of depression, anxiety disorders, psychosis, personality disorder and eating disorders. Section Three addresses the needs of specific populations, discussing the influence of sociocultural factors like gender, ethnicity and age. Finally, Section Four examines the organisation and the practitioner, including using the theory to organise services and how individual therapists can integrate their own attachment histories into their approach. Including the most up-to-date theories and practice in the field, Attachment Theory in Adult Mental Health is ideal for psychologists and psychological therapists, counsellors, psychiatrists, occupational therapists, social workers and mental health service managers and commissioners.

This is a revised edition of an important title originally published in 2009. It is written primarily for psychotherapists and other practitioners and describes a new and effective form of dynamic therapy designed for working with adults and with adolescents. The theory, on which the new form of therapy is based, is centred in a paradigm that extends and crucially alters the paradigm for developmental psychology opened by the Bowlby/Ainsworth attachment theory. It describes a pre-programmed process, the dynamics sustaining attachment and interest sharing, which is activated as soon as people perceive that they are in danger. This process is made up of seven pre-programmed systems which interact with one another as an integrated whole. They include Bowlby's two complementary goal-corrected behavioural systems: attachment (also referred to as careseeking) and caregiving. Whenever the process is able to function effectively, it enables people to adapt more constructively and co-operatively to changing circumstances.

This is a concise, accessible introduction to the basic principles of attachment theory, and their application to therapeutic practice. Bringing together 70 years’ of theory and research, its expert authors provide a much-needed user-friendly guide to attachment-informed psychotherapy. The book covers: The history, research base, and key figures and concepts of attachment theory The key concepts of attachment theory, and their implications for practice Neuroscience implications of attachment and its therapeutic relevance The parallels and differences between parent-child attachment and the therapeutic relationship The application of attachment in adult individual psychotherapy across a number of settings, also to couples and families The applications of attachment to working with complex disorders The applications of attachment in child psychotherapy

Written with the practicing psychotherapist in mind, this invaluable book presents cutting-edge knowledge on adult attachment and explores the implications for day-to-day clinical practice. Leading experts illustrate how theory and research in this dynamic area can inform assessment, case formulation, and clinical decision making. The book puts such concepts as the secure base, mentalization, and attachment styles in a new light by focusing on their utility for understanding the therapeutic relationship and processes of change. It offers recommendations for incorporating attachment ideas and tools into specific treatment approaches, with separate chapters on psychoanalytic, interpersonal, cognitive-behavioral, and emotionally focused therapies.

Disorganized attachment, the most extreme form of insecure attachment, can develop in a child when the person who is meant to protect them becomes a source of danger. This book provides a comprehensive text on disorganized attachment.

The quality of early social relationships has a deep bearing on our psychological and social development; adversity in childhood can lead to adult relationships that may be difficult and distressing. This book addresses the needs of social workers in understanding and assessing the nature and origins of such disturbed social relationships. Taking a comprehensive and wide-ranging look at the theories emerging in and around attachment theory, it provides a sophisticated but accessible base from which social workers can make sensitive assessments and develop humane practices.

From best-selling author, Susan M. Johnson, with over 1 million books sold worldwide! This essential text from the leading authority on Emotionally Focused Therapy, Susan M. Johnson, and colleague, T. Leanne Campbell, applies the key interventions of EFT to work with individuals, providing an overview and clinical guide to treating clients with depression, anxiety, and traumatic stress. Designed for therapists at all levels of expertise, Johnson and Campbell focus on introducing clinicians to EFIT interventions, techniques, and change processes in a highly accessible and practical format. The book begins by summarizing attachment theory and science – the theoretical basis of this model – together with the experiential approach to change in psychotherapy. Chapters describe the three stages of EFIT, macro-interventions, such as the EFIT Tango, and various micro-interventions through clinical exercises, case studies, and transcripts to demonstrate this model in practice with individuals, highlighting the unique benefits of EFT as a cross-modality approach for treating emotional disorders. With exercises interwoven throughout the text, this book is built to accompany in-person and online training, helping the practicing clinician offer targeted and empirically tested interventions that not only alleviate symptoms of distress but expand the client’s emotional balance, agency, and sense of self. As the next major extension of the EFT approach, this book will appeal to therapists already working with couples and families as well as those just beginning their professional journey. Psychotherapists, psychologists, counselors, social workers, and mental health workers will also find this book invaluable.