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 specified issues. The authors present a sophisticated model of attachment that fits the breadth of clinical variation, focuses on family strengths, and is informed by insights from neurology and information-processing. "This book is a tour de force! The authors have contributed one of the most significant theoretical developments within the family systems field for some time. Their book is part of a blossoming movement to integrate attachment theory with systemic theory and practice. They offer a powerful explanatory alternative to a DSM based description of distress in children and families that not only offers a compassionate, causal framework for the development of problems in families but also provides clear guidance for tailored assistance and intervention with children and their families."
Arlene Vetere, Professor of Family Therapy and Systemic Practice, Diakonhjemmet University College, Norway "I have long looked forward to this book and it in no way disappoints, combining as it does engaging clinical material with a clarity of conceptualising that has become regrettably rare in the world of contemporary family therapy. Crittenden and Dallos bring alive the remarkable explanatory power of the DMM in a synergy with family systems therapy, to produce a readable therapeutic guide that is truly more than the sum of its parts."
David Pocock, Systemic Family Therapist and Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist, and Trainer in independent practice, UK "This book presents a much-needed shift from infant-mother attachment to consideration of the wider family and professional system - including Dad! It offers an accessible, thoughtful and at times provocative approach to helping families struggling with a wide range of problems including those where children have autism or ADHD. The emphasis on assessment as a means of formulating an intervention plan, rather than diagnosis and prescription, is particularly welcome."
Steve Farnfield, Senior Lecturer and Director of the MSc in Attachment Studies, University of Roehampton, UK About the Authors: Patricia McKinsey Crittenden is a developmental psychopathologist who worked with Mary Ainsworth at the University of Virginia to develop the Dynamic-Maturational Model (DMM) of attachment and adaptation. She pioneered video-feedback with maltreating mothers in the early 1970s, ran a family support centre, trained as a behavioural and family systems therapist, was the Director of the Miami Child Protection Team, and consulted to family courts in several countries. She has developed a life-span series of assessments of attachment. In 2004, she was given a Career Achievement Award by the European Family Therapy Association. She has published more than 100 empirical papers and chapters, as well as several books, and is the founding Chair of The International Association for the Study of Attachment. Rudi Dallos is professor and research director on the clinical psychology training programme at Plymouth University. He works as a family therapist utilising an attachment narrative therapy approach which he has developed. He has published research papers on family dynamics and attachment patterns and his recent book publications include: Attachment Narrative Therapy (Open University Press, 2006), An Introduction to Family Therapy, Third Edition (OpenUP, 2010) and Reflective Practice in Psychotherapy and Counselling (OpenUP, 2009). Andrea Landini is a child and adolescent psychiatrist. For two decades, he collaborated with Patricia Crittenden in the development of the Dynamic-Maturational Model. He teaches the DMM and its assessment methods internationally, has published many articles and edited volumes on the DMM. He is on the faculty of several Italian schools of cognitive and family systems psychotherapy. Kasia Kozlowska is a child and adolescent psychiatrist at The Children's Hospital in Sydney, Australia, Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Paediatrics and Child Health, and Clinician Researcher at the Brain Dynamics Centre, all in the University of Sydney Medical School. She has published numerous papers, particularly on the topics of mind-body interactions, treatment of children with somatic symptoms, multimodal approaches for complex presentations, and the integration of DMM and systems thinking into clinical practice. |
