Understanding Adult Attachment in Family Relationships

'The Attachment Style Interview is at the heart of Antonia Bifulco and Geraldine Thomas's most welcome book, summarising many years of development, research and practice. The context of their work is based on extensive qualitative and quantitative research, taking a lifespan approach, and tracking experiences back from adulthood to childhood to capture early life experiences, and forward to parenting in the next generation to look at inter-generational transmission of risk for disorder. It complements the increasingly familiar Secure, Anxious, Avoidant and Disorganised models of attachment with the capacity to relate, and provide or seek emotional support. Insights are provided into the key concepts of autonomy, trust, fear and anger in relationships. Attachment Style can be measured and is easy to use in many contexts, in research, in welfare assessments of prospective adopters, in understanding complex family relationships and orientating therapists to work most effectively with the often confusing responses of those seeking help. Just as the Attachment paradigm is recognised to have a central role in understanding human development and the need for security, the Attachment Style provides a powerful guide to assessing and understanding the nature of relationships.

The use of extensive descriptions, and summaries of the authors' research provides an excellent introduction, and the book is highly commended to researchers and practitioners who need to 'Understand Attachments in Adult Relationships.'– Arnon Bentovim, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist, Visiting Professor Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.

‘Employing an innovatively nuanced clinical assessment of current adult attachment relationships, the Attachment Style Interview, the authors dramatically advance research by elucidating developmental pathways from childhood adversity to adulthood psychiatric disorder. Their uniquely comprehensive work encompasses diverse social-contextual influences on parenting, resilience, and disorder as they interact with attachment styles. Carefully crafted for a wide readership, this landmark contribution will be an indispensable resource for researchers, therapists, students, and social service personnel involved in child protection, adoption, foster care, and residential treatment.’– Jon G. Allen, Ph.D., Senior Staff Psychologist, The Menninger Clinic, and Professor of Psychiatry in the Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA.