Disorganized Attachment and Caregiving

From leading authorities, this volume provides a state-of-the-art examination of disorganized attachment: what it is, how it can be identified, and its links to behavioral problems and psychological difficulties in childhood and beyond. The editors offer a fresh perspective on disorganized attachment, not as a characteristic of the infant or child but as the product of a dysregulated and disorganized parent - child relationship. They present cutting-edge research and exemplary treatment approaches. With attention to the subjective experiences of both mothers and children, the book shows how focusing on the caregiving system can advance research and clinical practice.

Judith Solomon, PhD, is Director of Training for the Child FIRST Program at Bridgeport Hospital in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She is internationally recognized for her pioneering research in attachment and caregiving, including (with Mary Main) the discovery and delineation of the disorganized attachment classification group and the first longitudinal study of infants in separated and divorced families. With Carol George, she developed key representational measures of caregiving and child attachment, including the Caregiving Interview and the Attachment Doll Play Projective Assessment. In addition to her research and theoretical contributions, Dr. Solomon is also a practicing clinical psychologist, providing consultation, supervision, and training in attachment-based assessment and intervention for infants and young children. Carol George, PhD, is Lee Mirmow Professor of Psychology at Mills College in Oakland, California. The author of numerous research articles and book chapters on adult and child attachment and caregiving, Dr. George has been at the forefront of developing attachment assessments for children and adults, including the Attachment Doll Play Projective Assessment, the Caregiving Interview, the Adult Attachment Interview, and the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System. She teaches courses in development and attachment, codirects a master\u2019s degree program in infant mental health, and trains and consults on the application of attachment assessment in research and clinical settings.

I. Core Questions: Etiology, Continuity, and Developmental Transformation 1. The Disorganized Attachment–Caregiving System: Dysregulation of Adaptive Processes at Multiple Levels, Judith Solomon and Carol George 2. Disorganization of Maternal Caregiving across Two Generations: The Origins of Caregiving Helplessness, Judith Solomon and Carol George 3. Understanding Disorganized Attachment at Preschool and School Age: Examining Divergent Pathways of Disorganized and Controlling Children, Ellen Moss, Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Bureau, Diane St-Laurent, and George M. Tarabulsy 4. Continuity and Change in Unresolved Classifications of Adult Attachment Interviews with Low-Income Mothers, Susan Spieker, Elizabeth M. Nelson, Michelle DeKlyen, Sandra N. Jolley, and Lisa Mennet 5. Genetic and Environmental Determinants of Attachment Disorganization, Gottfried Spangler II. New Directions 6. Caregiving Helplessness: The Development of a Screening Measure for Disorganized Maternal Caregiving, Carol George and Judith Solomon 7. Pathways from Disorganized Attachment to Later Social–Emotional Problems: The Role of Gender and Parent–Child Interaction Patterns, Nancy L. Hazen, Deborah Jacobvitz, Kristina N. Higgins, Sydnye Allen, and Mi Kyoung Jin 8. Disorganized Attachment Behavior Observed in Adolescence: Validation in Relation to Adult Attachment Interview Classifications at Age 25, Katherine H. Hennighausen, Jean-Fran\u00e7ois Bureau, Daryn H. David, Bjarne M. Holmes, and Karlen Lyons-Ruth 9. Maternal Solicitousness and Attachment Disorganization among Toddlers with a Congenital Anomaly, Douglas Barnett, Melissa Kaplan-Estrin, Julie Braciszewski, Lesley Hetterscheidt, Jaclyn Issner, and Christine M. Butler III. Clinical Applications 10. Viewing Young Foster Children\u2019s Responses to Visits through the Lens of Maternal Containment: Implications for Attachment Disorganization, Teresa Ostler and Wendy Haight 11. An Exploratory Investigation of the Relationships among Representational Security, Disorganization, and Behavior Ratings in Maltreated Children, Linda Webster and Rachelle Kisst Hackett 12. The Circle of Security Intervention: Using the Therapeutic Relationship to Ameliorate Attachment Security in Disorganized Dyads, Caroline A. Zanetti, Bert Powell, Glen Cooper, and Kent Hoffman 13. Attachment Disorganization in Borderline Personality Disorder and Anxiety Disorder, Anna Buchheim and Carol George 14. Attachment Disorganization and the Clinical Dialogue: Theme and Variations, Giovanni Liotti