The Routledge Handbook of Attachment: Implications and Interventions

Book excerpt: The Routledge Handbook of Attachment: Implications and Interventions offers an introduction to therapies produced as a result of the popularity of attachment studies. These therapies can be divided into two categories: those that are ‘attachment-based’, in that they use evidence-based attachment assessments in their development, or ‘attachment-informed’, in that the theories of attachment have been integrated into the practice of existing schools of therapy. The book reviews the field and provides a range of interventions for children, adults and parents, beginning with a detailed review of both evidence-base and evidence-informed interventions including individual psychotherapy, family therapy and parenting. The remaining chapters provide accounts, from the practitioner’s perspective, of interventions that address issues of attachment from the level of one-to-one therapy, family and social work to social interventions involving courts and Care Proceedings, illustrated with examples from day-to-day practice. Discussing how an understanding of formal assessments of attachment can be used to inform therapeutic, social and legal interventions to assist and protect children, The Routledge Handbook of Attachment: Implications and Interventions is an indispensable guide for clinical psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers working with children and families, clinicians in training and students.