Attachment abuse can involve both physical and emotional violence between people in close relationships, which includes couples, parents and their children, and adult children and their aging parents, among others. Attachment abusers blame their victims for their own feelings of shame, inadequacy, or inability to love. Dr. Stosny's innovative and integrative approach to the treatment of attachment abuse emphasizes the importance of compassion for both the abused and the abuser. This hands-on manual provides a series of treatment modules designed to teach the perpetrators and the victims how to cope with their feelings and to end attachment abuse. This volume will be of interest to psychotherapists, group therapists, social workers, and counselors working with abusive clients and their victims. Table of Contents: Introduction
Part I: The Role of Attachment in Abuse
Beginnings: Self-Building, Abuse, and Treatment
The Experience of Attachment
Attachment Abuse: Why We Hurt the Ones We Love
Pathways to Abuse: Deficits in Attachment Skills and Affect Regulation
A New Response for Clinicians in the Prevention of Emotional Abuse and Violence
Compassion and Therapeutic Morality Part II: Treating Attachment Abuse
The Compassion Workshop, Module One: Healing
The Compassion Workshop, Module Two: Dramatic Compassion
The Compassion Workshop, Module Three: Self-Empowerment;
Module Four: Empowerment of Loved Ones
The Compassion Workshop, Module Five: Negotiating Attachment Relationships;
Module Six: Moving Toward the Future Epilogue
References
Appendix A. Pilot Evaluation of the Compassion Workshop
Appendix B. The Attachment Compassion Scale
Index About the Author: Steven Stosny, PhD, Director of the Community Outreach Service, which serves clients in and around Washington, DC, received his doctorate in clinical social work from the University of Maryland at Baltimore. | 
