Main description:

Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) is the only empirically supported family therapy model designed to treat adolescent depression. This book describes clinical strategies for therapists, as well as the theoretical basis of the approach and the evidence base that supports it. ABFT emerges from interpersonal theories that suggest adolescent depression and suicide can be precipitated, exacerbated, or buffered against by the quality of interpersonal relationships in families. ABFT organizes the therapy around tasks that repair interpersonal ruptures and rebuild an emotionally protective, secure-based, Parent-child relationship. The treatment initially focuses on repairing or strengthening attachment and then turns to promoting adolescent autonomy.

Contents:

Acknowledgments
Introduction: The Context of Adolescent Depression

Historical Roots and Empirical Support for Attachment-Based Family Therapy
Theoretical Framework of Attachment-Based Family Therapy
Task I: Relational Reframe
Task II: Adolescent Alliance
Task III: Parent Alliance
Task IV: Repairing Attachment
Task V: Promoting Autonomy
Case Study
Recommended Additional Readings

References
Index
About the Authors