Adult Attachment in Clinical Social Work: Practice, Research, and Policy (Essential Clinical Social Work Series) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1461414555 ISBN 13: 9781461414551

Publisher: Springer, 2011

Synopsis

This book explores adult attachment theory and research and its close fit with social work. It examines the broad range of clinical social work including public and private practice and with racial-ethnic groups, gays and lesbians, trauma survivors and others.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

As John Bowlby’s studies of human attachment revolutionized developmental psychology in the 1960s, adult attachment concepts have similarly transformed social work in recent years, leading to a generation of innovative attachment-based clinical practice. Adult Attachment in Clinical Social Work highlights social work’s contributions to attachment theory and research and the potential of these contributions to enhance clinical practice, inform social policy, and further empirical investigations.

Designed for readers new to adult attachment, as well as those familiar with it, this book examines the current state of the field, reviewing assessment measures and research methods, summarizing new findings and ongoing controversies, and clarifying terms toward a common language. Clinical applications in individual, family, and group contexts are featured, with case examples from various populations and settings demonstrating the practical utility of the theory and its application to cross-cultural treatment. Later chapters move beyond discrete cases to attachment issues that impact society as a whole (e.g., adoption, elder care) and training issues that affect future generations of clinicians. Among the topics covered:

·Separation, loss, and grief in adults ·The impact of neurobiology on affect regulation ·Applications of attachment concepts to interventions with at-risk families of young children, adolescents, and elder adults ·Clinical approaches for hard-to-reach individual clients and adults in group settings ·The function of attachment in both familial and professional caregiving ·Policy implications of adult attachment relevant to family preservation

Adult Attachment in Clinical Social Work is an essential text, breaking new ground in the attachment literature with immediate relevance for professionals and scholars in clinical social work and related mental health professions.

About the Author:

Susanne Bennett, MSW, PhD, is Associate Professor at National Catholic School of Social Service at The Catholic University of America, in Washington, DC. Her teaching in the MSW and PhD programs includes a course titled Attachment and neurobiology: Implications for social work practice and policy. She has published over a dozen articles on attachment processes, and her research focuses on the examination of attachment in caregiving relationships, particularly in social work supervision, elder care, and adoptive families. Dr. Bennett is a Distinguished Social Work Scholar in the National Academy of Practice and has maintained a psychotherapy practice for over 30 years.

Judith Kay Nelson, MSW, PhD, is on the faculty of The Sanville Institute for Clinical Social Work and Psychotherapy, a Ph.D. program in California, where she teaches attachment and the neurobiology of attachment. She has been in private practice for 35 years, specializing in long-term psychotherapy. She has spent many years studying, writing, teaching, and presenting throughout the United States and Europe on topics related to crying, laughter, and attachment. She is the author of Seeing through tears: Crying and attachment, published by Routledge in 2005, and numerous articles and chapters on crying, laughter, and attachment. She is currently working on a new book, What made Freud laugh? An attachment perspective on laughter. Dr. Nelson is a Distinguish Social Work Practitioner in the National Academy of Practice.

About this edition

• Publisher: Springer
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1461414555
• ISBN 13: 9781461414551
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 284
• Editor: Bennett Susanne, Nelson Judith Kay