attachment
Attachment-based therapy (children)
Attachment-based therapy is a phrase intended to apply to interventions or approaches based on attachment theory, originated by John Bowlby. These range from individual therapeutic approaches to public health programs to interventions specifically designed for foster carers.[1] Although attachment theory has become a major scientific theory of socioemotional development with one of the broadest, deepest research lines in modern psychology, attachment theory has, until recently, been less clinically applied than theories with far less empirical support. This may be partly due to lack of attention paid to clinical application by Bowlby himself and partly due to broader meanings of the word 'attachment' used amongst practitioners. It may also be partly due to the mistaken association of attachment theory with the pseudo-scientific interventions misleadingly known as attachment therapy.[2] The approaches set out below are examples of recent clinical applications of attachment theory by mainstream attachment theorists and clinicians and are aimed at infants or children who have developed or are at risk of developing less desirable, insecure attachment styles or an attachment disorder.
Individual Therapeutic Approaches[edit]
Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP)[edit]
This intervention was developed from "infant-parent psychotherapy", a psychoanalytic approach to treating disturbed infant-parent relationships based on the theory that disturbances are manifestations of unresolved conflicts in the parent's past relationships. The "patient" is the infant-parent relationship. Infant-parent psychotherapy was expanded by Alicia Lieberman and colleagues into Child-Parent Psychotherapy, a manualized intervention for impoverished and traumatised families with children under the age of 5. In addition to the focus on the parents early relationships the intervention also addresses current life stresses and cultural values. CPP is supported by five
Attachment-based therapy is a phrase intended to apply to interventions or approaches based on attachment theory, originated by John Bowlby. These range from individual therapeutic approaches to public health programs to interventions specifically designed for foster carers.[1] Although attachment theory has become a major scientific theory of socioemotional development with one of the broadest, deepest research lines in modern psychology, attachment theory has, until recently, been less clinically applied than theories with far less empirical support. This may be partly due to lack of attention paid to clinical application by Bowlby himself and partly due to broader meanings of the word 'attachment' used amongst practitioners. It may also be partly due to the mistaken association of attachment theory with the pseudo-scientific interventions misleadingly known as attachment therapy.[2] The approaches set out below are examples of recent clinical applications of attachment theory by mainstream attachment theorists and clinicians and are aimed at infants or children who have developed or are at risk of developing less desirable, insecure attachment styles or an attachment disorder.
Individual Therapeutic Approaches[edit]
Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP)[edit]
This intervention was developed from "infant-parent psychotherapy", a psychoanalytic approach to treating disturbed infant-parent relationships based on the theory that disturbances are manifestations of unresolved conflicts in the parent's past relationships. The "patient" is the infant-parent relationship. Infant-parent psychotherapy was expanded by Alicia Lieberman and colleagues into Child-Parent Psychotherapy, a manualized intervention for impoverished and traumatised families with children under the age of 5. In addition to the focus on the parents early relationships the intervention also addresses current life stresses and cultural values. CPP is supported by five