Adult Attachment in Clinical Social Work

Transcription

1 Adult Attachment in Clinical Social Work

2 Essential Clinical Social Work Series Series Editor: Carol Tosone For other titles published in this series, go to

3 Susanne Bennett Judith Kay Nelson Editors Adult Attachment in Clinical Social Work Practice, Research, and Policy

4 Editors Susanne Bennett National Catholic School of Social Service The Catholic University of America Washington, DC, USA Judith Kay Nelson The Sanville Institute for Clinical Social Work and Psychotherapy Berkeley, CA, USA ISBN e-isbn DOI / Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (

5 With gratitude to: Catherine Cay Hartley C. S. B. To the memory of: Elise Lise Silverman Blumenfeld J. K. N.

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7 Acknowledgements We would like to acknowledge Dr. Carol Tosone, the Editor of Clinical Social Work Journal, for her support, advice, and encouragement in the creation of this book. We also appreciate the contributors for their professionalism, cooperation, and careful attention to detail. They were delightful collaborators, and their hard work was much appreciated. Our editor at Springer, Jennifer Hadley, has also been a wonderful support to us through the publication process, for which we are most grateful. We would like to thank the many colleagues who have been part of our journey in the realm of attachment theory and research, the students who have been so enthusiastic and interested, and the clients who are our best teachers. Our partners, adult children, and siblings at the center of our attachment circle are our primary supports with writing, in general, and with the production of this book, in particular. It is, however, our grandchildren Esther and Aurelia, just beginning to establish their internal working models of attachment, who have been our inspiration. vii

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9 Contents 1 Introduction... Susanne Bennett and Judith Kay Nelson 1 Part I Theory Development Regarding Adult Attachment 2 The Origins of an Attachment Approach to Social Work Practice with Adults... Pat Sable 17 3 Contemporary Theory and Research on Adult Attachment: Where is the Field Today?... Susanne Bennett and Judith Kay Nelson 31 4 Clinical Social Work and Regulation Theory: Implications of Neurobiological Models of Attachment... Judith R. Schore and Allan N. Schore 57 Part II Applications to Adult Clinical Practice 5 Separation, Loss, and Grief in Adults: An Attachment Perspective... Judith Kay Nelson 79 6 Listening Closely: The Significance of the Therapist s Voice Intensity, Rhythm, and Tone... Kristin Miscall Brown and Dorienne Sorter 97 7 Using a Mentalization-Based Framework to Assist Hard-to-Reach Clients in Individual Treatment Christine H. Fewell ix

10 x Contents 8 Attachment and Caregiving for Elders Within African-American Families Susanne Bennett, Michael J. Sheridan, and Barbara Soniat 9 Attachment in the Family Context: Insights from Development and Clinical Work Janet Shapiro 10 Applications of Attachment Theory to Group Interventions: A Secure Base in Adulthood Timothy F. Page Part III Attachment Applications to Policy, Research, and Education 11 Policy Implications of Attachment Processes in Adulthood: Caregiving and Family Preservation Joyce E. Everett 12 Attachment Research: Contributions of Social Workers Joanna E. Bettmann and Rachael A. Jasperson 13 Implications of Attachment Theory for Social Work Education Susanne Bennett and Kathleen Holtz Deal Index

11 Contributors Susanne Bennett, MSW, PhD National Catholic School of Social Service, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA Joanna E. Bettmann, MSW, PhD College of Social Work, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA Kathleen Holtz Deal, MSW, PhD National Catholic School of Social Service, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA Joyce E. Everett, MSW, PhD Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, MA, USA Christine H. Fewell, MSW, PhD Silver School of Social Work, New York University, New York, NY, USA and Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research, New York, NY, USA Rachael A. Jasperson, MSW College of Social Work, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, USA Kristin Miscall Brown, MSW Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy Study Center, New York, NY, USA Judith Kay Nelson, MSW, PhD The Sanville Institute for Clinical Social Work and Psychotherapy, Berkeley, CA, USA Timothy F. Page, MSW, PhD School of Social Work, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA Pat Sable, MSW, PhD School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA xi

12 xii Contributors Allan N. Schore, PhD UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, CA, USA Judith R. Schore, MSW, PhD The Sanville Institute for Clinical Social Work and Psychotherapy, Berkeley, CA, USA and Reiss-Davis Post Doctoral Program in Child Psychotherapy, Los Angeles, CA, USA Janet Shapiro, MSW, PhD School of Social Work, Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA, USA Michael J. Sheridan, MSW, PhD National Catholic School of Social Service, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA Barbara Soniat, MSW, PhD National Catholic School of Social Service, The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC, USA Dorienne Sorter, MSW, PhD Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, New York, NY, USA

13 Editors 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 distinguished Social Work Practitioner in the National Academy of Practice. xiii

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