Healing Relational Trauma with Attachment-Focused Interventions: Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy with Children and Families

DDP is an attachment-focused treatment for children and adolescents who experience abuse and neglect and who are now living in stable foster and adoptive families. Its central interventions are influenced by enhanced knowledge about the structure and functions of the brain, as well as the latest findings regarding developmental trauma and the related attachment problems it brings.

About the Author :
Daniel Hughes, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and author who developed Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy. He lives in Annville, Pennsylvania. Kim S. Golding, PhD, is a clinical psychologist, author, and DDP consultant and trainer. She lives in Worcestershire, England. Julie Hudson is a chartered clinical psychologist in private practice and lives Bath, England.

Review :
[A] new way to understand what relational trauma is, how it fractures a child's sense of safety and trust, and most important, how to restore the essential connection and attachment needed to begin the process of healing. It is a book that should be required reading for all clinicians.-- "Psych Central" DDP has rightly established itself as a hugely influential therapeutic model for working with trauma. Pioneered by Dan Hughes' inimitable trailblazing ability to synthesize rich longstanding clinical expertise with the latest developmental science, this excellent book beautifully illustrates DDP in action. It successfully interweaves fine-grained case examples with neurobiology, attachment and trauma theory, alongside careful explanations, leaving the reader in no doubt about the effectiveness of this model, and equally importantly, explaining exactly why it works so well. This book is a credit to the authors and the field, and practitioners from the most experienced to those brand new to DDP or trauma work will find huge benefit in it.--Graham Music, PhD, Consultant Psychotherapist, Tavitock Centre, London, author of Nurturing Natures This book is a major gift to all the courageous therapists who hope to heal children and their families who have suffered relational trauma. The book provides clear and detailed explanations of the various aspects of the Dyadic Developmental approach. Each section is followed by vivid clinical examples which movingly demonstrate how Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity, and Empathy can create a sense of safety and trust that allows parents and children to connect with each other and form secure and loving relationships.--Phyllis Booth, MA, Co-Founder of Theraplay, Clinical Director Emerita of The Theraplay Institute This book is a must-read for anyone living or working with a young person who has suffered developmental trauma. In a deeply moving way, the reader is taken by the hand, into a wealth of fascinating underlying theory and case studies which explore how to engage young people who have been catastrophically hurt by adults in their lives. I am sure that the book will also become a seminal text for anyone studying Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, which is so effective in promoting change in the most defended of young people.--Margot Sunderland, D.Psych, D. Litt. (Hons), MA, Bed, Dip GPTI, Director in Education and Training, The Centre for Child Mental Health London, Co-Director of Trauma Informed Schools UK