Adult Attachment in Clinical Social Work

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.

• I. Theory Development Regarding Adult Attachment.- The Origins of an Attachment Approach to Social Work Practice with Adults.- Contemporary Theory and Research on Adult Attachment: Where is the Field Today.- Clinical Social Work and Regulation Theory: Implications of Neurobiological Models of Attachment.- II. Applications to Adult Clinical Practice.- Separation, Loss, and Grief in Adults: An Attachment Perspective.- Listening Closely: The Significance of the Therapist’s Voice Intensity, Rhythm, and Tone.- Using a Mentalization-Based Framework to Assist Hard-to-Reach Clients in Individual Treatment.- Attachment and Caregiving for Elders within African American Families.- Attachment in the Family Context: Insights from Development and Clinical Work.- Applications of Attachment Theory to Group Interventions: A Secure Base in Adulthood.- III. Attachment Applications to Policy, Research, and Education.- Policy Implications of Attachment Processes in Adulthood: Caregiving and Family Preservation.- Contributions of Social Workers to Attachment Research.- Implications of Attachment Theory for Social Work Education.

"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