Main description:

This book presents cutting-edge research on adult attachment together with a complete overview of the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP), the authors' validated developmental assessment. In addition to identifying attachment classification groups, the AAP yields important information about dimensions--including defensive processes--not evaluated by other available measures. Detailed case illustrations show what the AAP looks like in action and what it reveals about individuals' early experiences, sense of self, and capacity to engage in close, protective relationships. The AAP can be used in clinical or research settings; the concluding chapter discusses promising applications to studying the neurobiology of attachment.

Contents:

I. Background 1. Narrative versus Non-Narrative Assessment of Adult Attachment 2. Defining Attachment Stories as Representational Precipitates II. Development, Validation, and Coding of the AAP 3. The Development and Validation of the AAP 4. The Attachment Self: The AAP Attachment Content Coding Dimensions 5. Defensive Processes in the AAP III. Using the AAP 6. Secure Attachment 7. Dismissing Attachment 8. Preoccupied Attachment 9. Dysregulated Segregated Systems: Unresolved Attachment, Failed Mourning, and Preoccupation with Suffering 10. Using the AAP in Neurobiology Research, Anna Buchheim and Carol George