Understanding Disorganized Attachment: Theory and Practice for Working With Children and Adults

Disorganized attachment, the most extreme form of insecure attachment, can develop in a child when the person who is meant to protect them becomes a source of danger. Someone with disorganized attachment experiences 'fear without a solution', and it can result in extreme, erratic and disturbing behaviour. This book provides a comprehensive and accessible text on disorganized attachment. It outlines what it is, how it can be identified, the key causes, how it manifests in adulthood, and the implications for caregivers and those within close relationships. It also covers the debate over whether disorganized attachment can repeat down generations within families, and discusses neurological explanations and appropriate interventions. The book focuses on both children and adults and includes case vignettes to root the theory in practice and to illustrate real-life examples of disorganized attachment. With an authoritative research base, this accessible text will be invaluable to undergraduate and postgraduate students in the fields of social care, psychology, counselling and allied health professions, as well as practitioners and academics in these fields

Research review - Evidence-based research into disorganised attachment and child maltreatment

Introduction One of the main reasons why the assessment of child maltreatment allegations is problematic is because of confusion about the difference between correlation and prediction

Indicators of disorganised attachment in children

Disorganised attachment refers to momentary behaviours displayed by children if they find themselves in anxiety-provoking situations into which an abusive caregiver enters. Because they don’t know what to do, they experience what American academic Mary Main called “fear without solution” and end up behaving in bizarre ways, albeit only for a few seconds. Older children display disorganised attachment behaviours when they contemplate attachment-related scenarios involving caregivers. The condition is predictive of maltreatment, not merely correlated with it

A-Z of attachment

Launching Palgrave's interdisciplinary Professional Keywords series, this reader-friendly reference guide distils the study of attachment into digestible, yet authoritative, chunks. With over 60 alphabetized entries, it is the perfect introduction to the key concepts, debates and thinkers within this increasingly exploration of human behaviour