Attachment Processes in Couple and Family Therapy

With contributions from leading clinicians and researchers, this book presents couple and family therapy models that use attachment theory as the basis for new clinical understandings. Chapters provide compelling insights on the nature of interactions between adult partners and between parents and children, and the role of attachment in distressed and satisfying relationships. The book describes a range of ways that attachment-oriented interventions can help resolve marital conflict and difficult family transitions.

Susan M. Johnson, EdD, is Professor of Psychology in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, Canada, and Director of the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute. She is the main proponent of emotionally focused couple and family therapy. In 2000, she received the Outstanding Contribution to the Field Award from the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy for her work in couple and family therapy and on therapy change processes, emotion, and adult attachment. The website for Dr. Johnson's work is www.eft.ca. Her most recent book is [i]Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with Trauma Survivors[/i].

Valerie E. Whiffen, PhD, Professor of Psychology in the School of Psychology at the University of Ottawa, has published widely in the area of depression, particularly focusing on women's depression. In recent publications, she has explored an attachment theory-based understanding of depression that co-occurs with marital distress. Dr. Whiffen teaches graduate courses in adult psychopathology and interpersonal theory, and supervises the clinical work of practicum students and interns in the American Psychological Association-accredited clinical psychology program at the University of Ottawa. She is a registered clinical psychologist and maintains a private practice specializing in the treatment of depression and marital distress.