Building the Bonds of Attachment: Awakening Love in Deeply Troubled Children

Building the Bonds of Attachment is the second edition of a critically and professionally acclaimed book for social workers, therapists, and parents who strive to assist children with reactive attachment disorder. This work is a composite case study of the developmental course of one child following years of abuse and neglect. Building the Bonds of Attachment focuses on both the specialized psychotherapy and parenting that is often necessary in facilitating a child's psychological development and attachment security. It develops a model for intervention by blending attachment theory and research, trauma theory, and the general principles of parenting, and child and family therapy. This book is a practical guide for the adult--whether professional or parent--who endeavors to help such children. The second edition of this widely popular book will present the many changes in the intervention model over the past 8 years. These include many changes in both the psychotherapist's and parent's interventions. The attachment history of the adults is made more relevant. There is greater congruence between attachment theory and research and the interventions being demonstrated as well as greater reference to this theory and research.

About the Author :
Daniel A. Hughes, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who specializes in child abuse and neglect, attachment, foster care, and adoption. He resides in Maine and actively trains other therapists in the model of treatment known as Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, both within the United States and in other countries.

Review :
Everyone's read them--those books that fundamentally change the way you look at things. Before reading Building the Bonds of Attachment, I had read a great deal on the subject. Despite recurring behavioral problems with my older child, I thought I was on the right track. Then I read Hughes's book and finally understood what I had to do help my daughter. This is the book I'd recommend to every adoptive parent....--Ann Keisling Daniel Hughes has once again proven his keen insight into the psyches of unattached children. This book is filled with gems of wisdom about the therapeutic parenting of wounded children and the often counterintuitive ways one has to respond to their behavior. Through the voices of a foster mother, psychotherapist, and social worker, Hughes creates a pattern for understanding, empathizing, and treating these vulnerable and provocative children in a manner than can bring true healing, not just temporary relief. In this edition, Hughes has added the importance of having the mother look into her own attachment issues to ensure that the child can feel safe enough to relinquish control to her, an essential step toward self-regulation. This book is a must-read for all adoptive and foster parents and the professionals who work with them.--Nancy Verrier Dr. Hughes has done the impossible: take the gold standard in practical texts for both the clinician and the foster or adoptive family, and make it better, by nearly any measure. Where would we have been without the first edition of this clear-headed, practical, clinically sound book? And now Dr. Hughes has taken the courageous step of modifying some of his own ideas and recommendations, in accord with new research, and the honing of his own views through continued clinical practice....--Michael Trout, author of The Jonathon Letters I thought the first edition of Building the Bonds of Attachment a magnificent book and recommended it to everyone I knew. The changes in the second edition make it even more essential reading for all who care for and work with children who have suffered neglect, loss, and trauma, and therefore haven't a clue about how to love and connect with others. This beautifully realized story of a young girl's struggle to learn how to love makes gripping reading and will be an inspiration for all those whocare for troubled children. In dramatized form the book presents a model both for the kind of therapy and the equally important kinds of parenting, that are needed to awaken love in deeply troubled children. The approach, which is securely founded inthe very latest research about trauma, attachment and brain development clearly lays out the kinds of care that a child needs in order to overcome the scarring effects of early neglect and frightening physical abuse. An important new emphasis is on the crucial importance of caregivers' understanding and coming to terms with their own early attachment experiences. This is a must read book that will have a profound influence on the whole field of treatment of troubled children.--Phyllis B. Booth, MA, LCPC, LMFT, RPT/S