Attachment & Family Therapy offers an integrative, family-based approach to understanding and addressing the psychological and relational needs of distressed children and their parents. The book blends attachment theory and basic developmental research with the diverse insights and methods of all schools of family systems theory. The problems addressed range from mild developmental issues, to autism, ADHD, disability, divorce and separation, psychosomatic disorders, and child protection and out-of-home placement. The solutions described involve not only traditional forms of family therapy, but also formulations and conceptualizations that combine individual, couples, and family work around specific issues. Crittenden, Dallos, Landini and Kozlowska present a model of attachment that fits the breadth of clinical variation, focuses on family strengths, is developmentally sophisticated and structurally informed by insights from neurology and information-processing. This model generates a systemic approach to treatment in which dysfunction is interpersonal. It is a response to real danger experienced by family members and requires uniquely sensitive interpersonal responses.

A collection of writings by leading developmental psychologist Patricia M Crittenden, highlighting her vast contribution to attachment theory and research. It includes her observation of compulsive A, coercive C, and combined A/C patterns; application of attachment theory to child maltreatment, parent and child mental illness, and criminality; and the Dynamic-Maturational Model (DMM) of Attachment and Adaptation.Includes an introduction to the Dynamic-Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM) and shows the history of that model. Contains an introduction and commentaries and published in conjunction with the International Association for the Study of Attachment (IASA).

This book focuses upon new methods of analysis for adult attachment texts. The authors’ introduce a highly nuanced model—the Dynamic-Maturational Model (DMM)—providing clinicians with a finely-tuned tool for helping patients examine past relationships, in addition to gauging the potential effectiveness of various treatment options. The authors offer a fascinating explanation of the neurobiological underpinnings of DMM, grounded in findings from the cognitive neurosciences about information processing. In this volume, readers have an eminently practical, theoretically-grounded work that is sure to transform many types of therapy.