What is Developmental Attachment Theory?
Dan Hughes explains, My treatment approach assumes that trauma and attachment difficulties are frequently interwoven among children who have suffered abuse, neglect, and multiple care givers. Often their traumatic experiences are resistant to effective treatment because these children do not have the experiences and inner resources needed to enable them to rely on their care givers and therapists for interpersonal healing experiences. As a result, I employ a therapeutic paradigm that seeks to facilitate a child s attachment behaviors to the committed care givers in his present life, while at the same time using the emotional support of this attachment figure so that the child is able to more effectively explore and resolve past traumas and betrayals. A central therapeutic activity to facilitate the above process involves the activation of developmental attachment sequences that are frequent in early childhood. This sequence consists in the parent and therapist engaging in affective att
