Adult Attachment in Clinical Social Work

The applicability of attachment theory and research to social work and social policy relating to infants and children is well-established. Yet, its usefulness for enhancing the understanding of adults and their needs, both individually and as a group, has been less featured in the attachment literature.

Adult Attachment in Clinical Social Work Practice is a wide-ranging look at attachment theory and research, its application to adults, and its natural fit with the social work profession. This edited volume covers the applicability of adult attachment theory to the clinical social work profession’s various domains that include human behavior, practice, policy, research, and social work education. It addresses the broad spectrum of clinical social work, including practice in a variety of public and private settings and with a number of diverse populations, including racial-ethnic groups, gays and lesbians, trauma survivors, and child welfare parents. The book highlights the underemphasized contribution of the social work profession to the development of attachment theory and research.

• affect arousal
• attachment
• attunement
• caregiving
• couples
• families
• mentalization
• regulation theory
• social work

"This is a great, original book--clear, well-written, nuanced, and sophisticated. I loved the neurobiology and research summaries and the wonderful point the book makes and remakes: that one is not stuck in one's attachment style for life! Susanne Bennett and Judith Nelson have creatively and successfully synthesized attachment theory and research and applied it to practice, teaching, social problems, and social policies. A pioneering book, it is a "must read" for social workers working with individuals, groups, and families in a range of settings, and I think it will make a wonderful textbook." -Dr. Joan Berzoff, Professor, Director, End of Life Certificate Program, Smith College School for Social Work

"This meticulously edited compendium of scholarship in the burgeoning field of adult attachment studies should be in every social worker’s library. Conceptually rigorous chapters range from new directions in theory development, through applications to adult clinical practice in a wide variety of settings, to implications for social policy, research, and education. By collecting contributions from leading attachment experts in our field, Drs. Bennett and Nelson provide an invaluable resource for practitioners and scholars in social work as well as those in other helping professions who will benefit richly from this splendid volume." - Jeffrey S. Applegate, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, Bryn Mawr College

• , National Catholic School for Social Serv, The Catholic University of America, Washington, USA

  Susanne Bennett

• Sanville Institute, Berkeley, USA

  Judith Kay Nelson

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.

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