Love and Attachment

Drs. Tosone and Aiello are to be congratulated for providing clinicians with an exciting, original, theoretically rich, and clinically useful group of papers that illuminate the complex nature of romantic love, the obstacles and problems associated with the achievement of intimacy, and some of the manifestations of attachment issues in the treatment situation. Practitioners in the mental health arena will find the case examples and perspectives on love and attachment applicable to a broad range of patients encountered in today's practice world. Well-written and instructive, this book is a welcome contribution to the literature. -- Eda G. Goldstein, D.S.W., New York University Shirley M. Ehrenkranz School of Social Work
Is it true, as Shakespeare wrote, that 'lovers and madmen have such seething brains' that cool reason cannot ever hope to comprehend them? Surely no one can deny that there are aspects of the experience of loving that are forever perplexing, miraculous, mystical, and confounding nor can it be denied that any couple's core understandings will always be to some degree impenetrable and indescribable to an outsider. That said, let me assure the reader that in Love and Attachment, 'cool reason' has an abundance of insights to offer! This wonderful compendium of thoughtful essays covers a great deal of contemporary ground, such as issues faced by intercultural couples, fathers as primary caregivers, intimacy problems in addiction, as well as enlarging our understanding of how we humans learn to love, and develop 'scenarios for loving' at the dawn of consciousness and in our mother's arms. -- Maggie Scarf, author of Intimate Worlds: How Families Thrive and Why They Fail and Intimate Partners: Patterns in Love and Marriage
This beautifully crafted collection of thought-provoking essays addresses the issues of love and attachment in contemporary life, as manifested both inside and outside the therapist's consulting room. All the authors are women, are affiliated with the New York University School of Social Work, and have in common their deep appreciation for, and sensitivity to, the impact of the modern world on the various forms and transformation of love and attachment. Although each author has her own distinctly unique theoretical and clinical perspective, the editors of this eminently readable volume have done a masterful job of interweaving the different strands. The result is a comprehensive, compact, highly accessible, and thoroughly enjoyable masterpiece. At once passionate and compassionate, this is a book you will love and will find yourself unable to put down until you have read every last world of it. -- Martha Stark, M.D., Boston Psychoanalytic Institute