Attachment Issues In Psychopathology And Intervention - L. Atkinson, S. Goldberg (2004) WW

298 Pages·2004·1.51 MB·English

ATTACHMENT ISSUES

IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY

AND INTERVENTION

EDITED BY
LESLIE ATKINSON • SUSAN GOLDBERG

ATTACHMENT ISSUES
IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
AND INTERVENTION

ATTACHMENT ISSUES
IN PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
AND INTERVENTION

Edited by

Leslie Atkinson
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Susan Goldberg
The Hospital for Sick Children

LAWRENCE ERLBAUM ASSOCIATES, PUBLISHERS
Mahwah, New Jersey
London
2004

Copyright ©2004by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form, by photostat, microform, retrieval system, or any other
means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., Publishers
10 Industrial Avenue
Mahwah, New Jersey 07430

Cover design by Kathryn Houghtaling Lacey

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Attachment issues in psychopathology and intervention /edited by
Leslie Atkinson, Susan Goldberg.
p.
cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8058-3693-4(alk. paper)
1. Attachment behavior.
2. Mental illness—
Etiology.
3. Object
relations (Psychoanalysis).
4. Attachment behavior in children.
I. Atkinson, Leslie, Ph.D.
Il. Goldberg, Susan.

RC45.4.A84A885 2003
616.89′ 071—
dc21
2003049132
CIP

Books published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates are printed on acid-
free paper, and their bindings are chosen for strength and durability.

Printed in the United States of America
10
9
8
7
6
5 4 3
2
1

Preface
vii

I
PSYCHOPATHOLOGY
1

1
Applications of Attachment: The Integration
of Developmental and Clinical Traditions
3
L. Atkinson and S. Goldberg

2
Attachment and Psychopathology
27
B. Egeland and B. Carlson

3
Disorders of Attachment and Failure to Thrive
49
D. Benoit and J. Coolbear

4
Hostile-Helpless Relational Models and
Disorganized Attachment Patterns Between
Parents and Their Young Children: Review
of Research and Implications for Clinical Work
65
K. Lyons-Ruth, S. Melnick, E. Bronfman, S. Sherry,
and L. Llanas

Contents

v

5
Adolescent Psychopathology in Terms of Multiple
Behavioral Systems: The Role of Attachment
and Controlling Strategies and Frankly
Disorganized Behavior
95
C. Hilburn-Cobb

II
INTERVENTION
137

6
Levels of Processing in Parent–Child Relationships:
Implications for Clinical Assessment and Treatment
139
R. R. Kobak and A. Esposito

7
Attachment State of Mind and the Treatment
Relationship
167
M. Dozier and B. Bates

8
Two Therapies: Attachment Organization
and the Clinical Process
181
A. Slade

9
An Antidote to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder:
The Creation of Secure Attachment
in Couples Therapy
207
S. Johnson

10
Toddler–Parent Psychotherapy for Depressed
Mothers and Their Offspring: Implications
for Attachment Theory
229
D. Cicchetti, S. I. Toth, and F. A. Rogosch

Author Index
277

Subject Index
285

vi
CONTENTS

The goal of this book is to push forward thinking about the clinical aspects
of attachment theory. The need is ironic given that John Bowlby, the
founder of attachment theory, was a physician and psychoanalyst whose
overriding purpose involved comprehending psychopathology. How-
ever, his most influential collaborator, Mary Ainsworth, was a develop-
mental psychologist primarily interested in attachment theory as a key to
understanding typical development. In some respects, she and her devel-
opmental psychology colleagues “hijacked” the research agenda, such
that decades of study focused on typical mother–infant interactions. This
hijacking was so successful that two decades after the publication of the
first volume of Bowlby’s trilogy on attachment, Bowlby wrote an article in
the American Journal of Psychiatry entitled, “Developmental Psychiatry
Comes of Age;” the thrust of the paper rested almost entirely on the work
of developmental psychologists studying typical development in non-
clinical samples. That same year (1988), Jay Belsky and Teresa Nezworski
published an edited book, Clinical Implications of Attachment. Although a
landmark volume of massive current relevance, the book was about “im-
plications” rather than “applications” because there were virtually no
clinical data available. It is true that this situation has changed in the inter-
vening years, but not dramatically; articles combining the clinical interests
of Bowlby with the developmental insights spawned by Ainsworth num-
ber in the dozens, rather than in the hundreds. And even here, the focus is
on understanding psychopathology rather than on treating it.

Preface

vii

This book is neatly divided in two parts, with approximately half of the
chapters addressing psychopathology per se, and half focusing on inter-
vention. We believe that this balanced coverage alone makes it unique in
the literature.
We are delighted to have persuaded so many who have contributed so
much to the field to join us in the effort to delineate the ways in which at-
tachment theory can and should inform effective practice. Looking back
over the book we have shaped together, we feel confident that it will in-
deed achieve its goal.

—Leslie Atkinson
—Susan Goldberg

viii
PREFACE

I

PSYCHOPATHOLOGY