Description

By (author) Wallin David J.

This eloquent book translates attachment theory and research into an innovative framework that grounds adult psychotherapy in the facts of childhood development. Advancing a model of treatment as transformation through relationship, the author integrates attachment theory with neuroscience, trauma studies, relational psychotherapy, and the psychology of mindfulness. Vivid case material illustrates how therapists can tailor interventions to fit the attachment needs of their patients, thus helping them to generate the internalized secure base for which their early relationships provided no foundation. Demonstrating the clinical uses of a focus on nonverbal interaction, the book describes powerful techniques for working with the emotional responses and bodily experiences of patient and therapist alike.

Table of contents:

1. Attachment and Change

I. Bowlby and Beyond
2. The Foundations of Attachment Theory
3. Mary Main: Mental Representations, Metacognition, and the Adult Attachment Interview
4. Fonagy and Forward

II. Attachment Relationships and the Development of the Self
5. The Multiple Dimensions of the Self
6. The Varieties of Attachment Experience
7. How Attachment Relationships Shape the Self

III. From Attachment Theory to Clinical Practice
8. Nonverbal Experience and the Unthought Known: Accessing the Emotional Core of the Self
9. The Stance of the Self toward Experience: Embeddedness, Mentalizing, and Mindfulness
10. Deepening the Clinical Dimension of Attachment Theory: Intersubjectivity and the Relational Perspective

IV. Attachment Patterns in Psychotherapy
11. Constructing the Developmental Crucible
12. The Dismissing Patient: From Isolation to Intimacy
13. The Preoccupied Patient: Making Room for a Mind of One’s Own
14. The Unresolved Patient: Healing the Wounds of Trauma and Loss

V. Sharpening the Clinical Focus
15. The Nonverbal Realm I: Working with the Evoked and the Enacted
16. The Nonverbal Realm II: Working with the Body
17. Mentalizing and Mindfulness: The Double Helix of Psychological Liberation

Review quote:

“As someone who bears witness daily to the suffering of the insecurely attached, I am deeply grateful for Attachment in Psychotherapy, a remarkable synthesis of scientific research, clinical observation and theory, and reflection on mindfulness. Wallin not only elucidates the vast empirical literature on attachment, but also with the clarity of a natural teacher and the wisdom of a seasoned clinician makes such findings relevant to the complex challenges of practice. Therapists of all orientations will find help here in fostering a sense of safety and in facilitating their clients” emotional growth.”–Nancy McWilliams, PhD, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

“No better introduction to the clinical application of attachment theory has yet been written.”–Lewis Aron, PhD, Director, Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York University

“Wallin”s understanding of attachment work and his integration of attachment theory with other modern relational perspectives are quite impressive. People are always asking me what they can read about the clinical implications of attachment work, and now I know what to tell them. This book is an amazing accomplishment. It is definitely my favorite book on this topic.”–L. Alan Sroufe, PhD, William Harris Professor of Child Development, University of Minnesota

“Simply the best integration of key advances in attachment theory and research and their applications to psychotherapy. Complex concepts are carefully elucidated and brilliantly illustrated with clinical examples. This book is an important reference for