TU34: Treating Attachment Difficulties with Dr. David Elliott

In this episode of Therapist Uncensored,

Guest Dr. David Elliott presents the Three Pillars of treatment for attachment disruptions.  Besides background on why attachment matters and the prevalence of insecurity, we focus mostly on how to apply the science in trying to heal relational attachment injuries for our clients, or ourselves.

Meeting David Elliott

Dr. Elliott has had leadership roles in several professional organizations. He was President of the Rhode Island Psychological Association for a two-year term, during 2000 and 2001; and prior to that he was Chair of the Coalition of Mental Health Professionals of Rhode Island (COMHPRI), also for two years. Both organizations advocate for availability and access to high quality and affordable mental health services.

Since 1998 Dr. Elliott has been on the faculty of and teaches annually at the International School for Psychotherapy, Counseling, and Group Leadership, in St. Petersburg, Russia. This three-year post-graduate program helps the therapists in training develop not only the professional skills necessary for effective therapy or leadership, but also the personal qualities that assure empathic, attuned, and ethically responsible professional activity. He is currently Chair of the International Advisory Board of the school.

David Elliott is a clinician and consultant who works with trauma and co-author of Attachment Disturbances in Adults, Treatment for Comprehensive Repair(2016).

Treating Attachment – today’s episode

We knew we had to interview Dr. Elliott upon finding his book, Attachment Disturbances in Adults, Treatment for Comprehensive Repair(2016). It immediately became Sue’s current favorite read and that is saying a lot!

We cover quite a lot in this podcast, especially about treatment, but if that still isn’t enough, these show notes are PACKED with PDF’s of great material offered by Dr. Elliott! Below you will find 4 full PDF handouts about the salient ideas of their synthesis of treatment for adults with attachment disruptions.

Dr. Elliott introduces our audience to the 3 Pillars of Comprehensive Treatment: Ideal Parent Protocol, Metacognition and Fostering Collaborative Capacity. While he touches on them all, please download the 4 PDF attachments provided below, and start by reviewing the Overview.

Four PDFs

1. Overview of the Three Pillars Model of Attachment Treatment (Brown & Elliott, 2016)
2. The Five Primary Conditions that Promote Secure Attachment (Brown & Elliott, 2016)
3. Levels of Metacognitive Skills (Brown & Elliott, 2016)
4. Fostering Collaborative Capacity and Behavior (Brown & Elliott, 2016)

RESOURCES:

Additional resources for this episode:

• Daniel Brown, co-author of Attachment Disturbances in Adults This is his current website, which focuses on his meditation and spiritual development activities.
• Attachment Disturbances in Adults Treatment for Comprehensive Repair (2016) Daniel Brown andDavid Elliott 
• Clinical Application of the Adult Attachment Interview Edited by Howard Steele and Mariam Steele Our favorite clinical reference for those that want to learn much more deeply about using the AAI to treat attachment and learn about its usefulness with various populations.
• Video of Strange Situation to familiarize yourself with Mary Ainsworth and later Mary Main’s phenomenal work.
• These and other resources have been collected for you on our Resources page 

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