Handbook of Attachment Interventions

Book excerpt: The emotional attachment of a child to caregivers, and the attachment of the caregivers to the child, is of vital importance to the child's socioemotional development. Proper attachment can affect one's ability to feel and express love, moral development, motivation to achieve, and sense of identity. Modern industrial societies have seen a recent surge in attachment problems, yet there has been little information on clinical interventions for attachment disorders. The Handbook of Attachment Interventions meets this need by providing information on diverse patient populations across different therapeutic philosophies, while providing specific techniques for treating attachment disordered children and their families. The book begins with a discussion of how attachment disorders relate to subsequent antisocial behavior patterns and other disorders, as well as general issues parents may encounter with an attachment disordered child. Subsequent chapters discuss special patient populations (the adopted child, military families, etc.) and techniques for intervention.Practitioners in clinical, private practice, managed care, and hospital settings, social workers, developmental psychologists, and interested parents find the Handbook of Attachment Interventions a valuable reference.