Practical Applications of Transforming the Attachment Relationship to God discusses four distinct attachment relationships to the God of personal spiritual experience and considers how each of these relationships has implications for working with clients in psychotherapy.
Geoff Goodman uses Attachment-Informed Psychotherapy (AIP) to explore the connection between a relationship to God and a relationship to caregivers during childhood. By analyzing the attachment relationships evident in the lives of four public figures—human rights activist Coretta Scott King, Jewish Holocaust victim Anne Frank, Alcoholics Anonymous co-founder Bill W., and founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud—this book demonstrates how their attachment relationships with their caregivers during childhood helped to determine the quality of their attachment relationship (or nonrelationship) to God in later life. Goodman demonstrates how to use AIP to work with these attachment relationships, formulating a psychotherapeutic treatment plan for each one with the goal of restoring wholeness and unity.
This book will be a valuable resource for psychoanalysts, psychotherapists, and marriage and family therapists in practice and in training.
Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Note on the Text
Chapter 1. Introduction
Part I. Using Autobiographies to Illustrate Attachment to God: Three Attachment Relationship Patterns
Chapter 2. Coretta Scott King: Secure Attachment to the Living God
Chapter 3. Anne Frank: Anxious-Resistant Attachment—Higher Power as Compensation
Chapter 4. Bill W.: Anxious-Avoidant Attachment—Higher Power as Compensation
Chapter 5. Sigmund Freud: Anxious-Avoidant Attachment—in Denial About the Possibility of a Higher Power
Part II. A Clinical Application of Attachment-Informed Psychotherapy
Chapter 6. A Yogi in Attachment-Informed Psychotherapy: A Spiritually Informed Case Conceptualization
Chapter 7. What I Have Personally Learned from Writing this Book
Author Index
Subject Index
About the Author :
Geoff Goodman is Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences in the Emory University School of Medicine and Associate Professor of Psychology and Spiritual Care in the Emory University Candler School of Theology in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He holds board certifications in clinical psychology and psychoanalysis from the American Board of Professional Psychology.
Review :
“Drawing from psychological attachment theory and pastoral care theology, “Our Refuge and Strength: Using Psychoanalytic Techniques to Transform the Attachment Relationship to God” is the best integration of psychology and spirituality to date. Moreover, the author’s insightful case studies demonstrate the mysterious dynamics of moving from theory to practice. All readers, from seasoned professional therapists to aspiring student chaplains, will treasure Goodman’s book.” – John Snarey, Franklin N. Parker Professor Emeritus, Emory University
“With his landmark achievement Our Refuge and Strength: Transforming Attachment to the Living God, Dr. Goodman provides key extensions to previous research on the attachment-religion connection. He takes this work to the therapy room as well as to flesh and blood of lived experience – his own and that of important historical figures. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, which is a must-read for anyone interested in the attachment-religion connection.” – Pehr Granqvist, The Eneroth Professor of Psychology, Dept. of Psychology, Stockholm University
