Attachment in Psychotherapy » (1st Edition)

David J. Wallin, PhD, is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Mill Valley and Albany, California. A graduate of Harvard College who received his doctorate from the Wright Institute in Berkeley, California, he has been practicing, teaching, and writing about psychotherapy for nearly three decades. Dr. Wallin is the coauthor (with Stephen Goldbart) of Mapping the Terrain of the Heart: Passion, Tenderness, and the Capacity to Love.

This eloquent book translates attachment theory and research into an innovative framework that grounds adult psychotherapy in the facts of childhood development. Advancing a model of treatment as transformation through relationship, the author integrates attachment theory with neuroscience, trauma studies, relational psychotherapy, and the psychology of mindfulness. Vivid case material illustrates how therapists can tailor interventions to fit the attachment needs of their patients, thus helping them to generate the internalized secure base for which their early relationships provided no foundation. Demonstrating the clinical uses of a focus on nonverbal interaction, the book describes powerful techniques for working with the emotional responses and bodily experiences of patient and therapist alike.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Gary B Kaniuk, Psy.D.(Cermak Health Services)
Description:This book describes how attachment concepts can be applied with adults in psychotherapy, providing treatment recommendations and instructive case vignettes.
Purpose:The author states, "Drawing on neurobiology, cognitive science, trauma studies, and Buddhist psychology as well as attachment theory and relational psychoanalysis, I aim to convey how therapists can make practical use of three key findings of attachment research. Accordingly, I focus on the therapeutic relationship as a developmental crucible, the centrality of the nonverbal dimension, and the transformative influence of reflection and mindfulness.
Audience:The book is intended for all psychotherapists who treat adults, including clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, and clinical social workers. Students and residents also will find it informative. The author is a clinical psychologist in private practice who has been practicing, teaching, and writing for almost three decades.
Features:A review of attachment theory and some of the historical figures who developed the concepts (Bowlby, Ainsworth, Main, and Fonagy, etc.) begins the book. The author focuses on three main findings of attachment research: co-created relationships of attachment are the key context for development; preverbal experience makes up the core of the developing self; and stance of the self toward experience predicts attachment security better than the facts of personal history themselves. The book is well written with nice case vignettes and discussion with three types of clients (the dismissing patient, the preoccupied patient, the unresolved patient). However, it is not the easiest book to read. Figures and/or tables would have helped to elucidate the material a little better.
Assessment:This is the perfect guide for therapists who want to learn how to apply attachment concepts in psychotherapy. The author presents helpful insights which would be valuable to any practicing therapist, regardless of theoretical orientation. Obviously, therapists who hold to a psychodynamic approach would be able to gain even more. Although not easy reading, it is well worth the effort.

Attachment and Change     1
Bowlby and Beyond     9
The Foundations of Attachment Theory     11
Mary Main: Mental Representations, Metacognition, and the Adult Attachment Interview     25
Fonagy and Forward     43
Attachment Relationships and the Development of the Self     59
The Multiple Dimensions of the Self     61
The Varieties of Attachment Experience     84
How Attachment Relationships Shape the Self     99
From Attachment Theory to Clinical Practice     113
Nonverbal Experience and the "Unthought Known": Accessing the Emotional Core of the Self     115
The Stance of the Self toward Experience: Embeddedness, Mentalizing, and Mindfulness     133
Deepening the Clinical Dimension of Attachment Theory: Intersubjectivity and the Relational Perspective     167
Attachment Patterns in Psychotherapy     191
Constructing the Developmental Crucible     193
The Dismissing Patient: From Isolation to Intimacy     211
The Preoccupied Patient: Making Room for a Mind of One's Own     224
The Unresolved Patient: Healing the Wounds of Trauma and Loss     242
Sharpening the Clinical Focus     257
The Nonverbal Realm I: Working with the Evoked and the Enacted     259
The Nonverbal Realm II: Working with the Body     292
Mentalizing and Mindfulness: The Double Helix of Psychological Liberation     307
References     339
Index     355