Attachment theory, the brainchild of child psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby, has begun to have a worldwide impact among clinicians within the last ten years. This interest marks a departure from the early fate of attachment theory. At first shunned by the psychoanalytic community, Bowlby's brilliant and groundbreaking effort to recast basic psychoanalytic concepts within system theories and a new, ethologically based model of the importance of affectional ties across the life span was taken up by a group of gifted developmental researchers. Empirical research not only tested and confirmed many basic propositions of attachment theory, but also extended Attachment theory in unexpected and creative ways. Bowlby was surprised and gratified by this turn of events, but also disappointed that his intended clinical audience has not taken the theory and run with it. This edited book is in part a testament to the fact that clinicians are beginning to do just that; they are taking Attachment theory and research creatively to examine clinical issues. In doing so, new vistas and hypothesis are being put forward showing that Attachment theory is alive and well. In this volume the editors gathered a distinguished group of clinician-scholars from around the world (Argentina, Italy, Mexico, UK, USA and Spain) to examine and extend Bowlby's legacy.The book should be of interest to clinicians regardless of their orientation. Attachment theory cuts across boundaries of clinical modalities-individual, group or family therapy-and orientations-psychoanalytic, cognitive or behavioural. The book should also be of interest to researchers who may find the heuristic value of clinical insights a valuable addition to the legacy of Attachment theory.

A Bestseller Attachment Theory shows scientifically how our earliest relationships with our mothers influence our later relationships in life. This book offers an excellent introduction to the findings of attachment theory and the major schools of psychoanalytic thought. "The book every student, colleague, and even rival theoretician has been waiting for. With characteristic wit, philosophical sophistication, scholarship, humanity, incisiveness, and creativity, Fonagy succinctly describes the links, differences, and future directions of his twin themes. [His book] is destined to take its place as one of a select list of essential psychology books of the decade." -Jeremy Holmes, Senior Lecturer in Psychotherapy, University of Exeter "Extraordinary--an invaluable resource for developmental psychoanalysis." -Joy D. Osofsky, Professor, Louisiana State University

This book, first published in the year of the author’s death, expresses Mitchell’s vision for the theory of relational psychoanalysis, and provides his most-developed expression of its foundations. Now republished in this Classic Edition, Mitchell’s ideas are brought back to the psychoanalytic readership, complete with a new introduction by Donnel Stern. In his final contribution to the psychoanalytic literature, the late Stephen A. Mitchell provided a brilliant synthesis of the interrelated ideas that describe the relational matrix of human experience. Relationality charts the emergence of the relational perspective in psychoanalysis by reviewing the contributions of Loewald, Fairbairn, Bowlby, and Sullivan, whose voices converge in apprehending the fundamental relationality of the human mind. Mitchell draws on the multiple dimensions of attachment, intersubjectivity, and systems theory in espousing a clinical approach equally notable for its responsiveness and responsible restraint. This remains a canonical text for all relational psychoanalysts and psychotherapists.

Attachment Across Clinical and Cultural Perspectives brings together leading thinkers in attachment theory to explore its importance across cultural, clinical and social contexts and the application of attachment relationship principles to intervention with diverse groups of children and families. These contributions collectively illustrate the robustness of attachment research in the contexts of culture, early extreme deprivation, trauma and the developing brain, providing great inspiration for anyone embracing the idea of evidence-based practice. Two chapters convey fundamentals of attachment theory, covering links between attachment and normal and pathological development and the interface between attachment and other features of evolutionary theory. Two others specifically tackle the cultural context of attachment; fundamental research findings with North American and European samples are shown to hold as well among indigenous people in a rural Mexican village, whilst the link between maternal sensitivity and secure attachment is demonstrated in a variety of cultures. Further chapters explore the role of fear and trauma in the formation of attachment; one establishes intergenerational links between parental history of trauma, dissociative states of mind and infant disorganized attachment, another looks at the consequences of early extreme deprivation (institutional rearing) for attachment. A third describes the impact of attachment experiences on brain development. Finally, the book explores intervention guided by attachment theory, research on fear and trauma, and an understanding of how attachment experiences leave their mark on parental psyche and behaviour. Attachment Across Clinical and Cultural Perspectives gathers authoritative information from leading experts in the field in an easily readable, practical way. It will appeal to psychoanalysts and psychoanalytic psychotherapists, to professionals who serve the developmental and mental health needs of adults, children and families, and anyone seeking to base their intervention work and therapy upon attachment principles.

This book demonstrates that the relationship between attachment theory and psychoanalysis is more complex than adherents of either community generally recognize. It provides a brief overview of attachment theory and some key findings of attachment research.

The Origins of Attachment: Infant Research and Adult Treatment addresses the origins of attachment in mother-infant face-to-face communication. New patterns of relational disturbance in infancy are described. These aspects of communication are out of conscious awareness. They provide clinicians with new ways of thinking about infancy, and about nonverbal communication in adult treatment. Utilizing an extraordinarily detailed microanalysis of videotaped mother-infant interactions at 4 months, Beatrice Beebe, Frank Lachmann, and their research collaborators provide a more fine-grained and precise description of the process of attachment transmission. Second-by-second microanalysis operates like a social microscope and reveals more than can be grasped with the naked eye. The book explores how, alongside linguistic content, the bodily aspect of communication is an essential component of the capacity to communicate and understand emotion. The moment-to-moment self- and interactive processes of relatedness documented in infant research form the bedrock of adult face-to-face communication and provide the background fabric for the verbal narrative in the foreground. The Origins of Attachment is illustrated throughout with several case vignettes of adult treatment. Discussions by Carolyn Clement, Malcolm Slavin and E. Joyce Klein, Estelle Shane, Alexandra Harrison and Stephen Seligman show how the research can be used by practicing clinicians. This book details aspects of bodily communication between mothers and infants that will provide useful analogies for therapists of adults. It will be essential reading for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists and graduate students. Collaborators Joseph Jaffe, Sara Markese, Karen A. Buck, Henian Chen, Patricia Cohen, Lorraine Bahrick, Howard Andrews, Stanley Feldstein Discussants Carolyn Clement, Malcolm Slavin, E. Joyce Klein, Estelle Shane, Alexandra Harrison, Stephen Seligman