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![]() | This article was nominated for deletion on July 9 2006. The result of the discussion was no consensus. |
The focus of the talk page should be on material in the article, not on persons or personal attacks. If an editor is engaged in self-promotional actions (as may be the case as described above) then that should be brought to the attention of an administrator for action. JonesRD 16:56, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
can you just add on to this?
Well, as an adoptive parent conned by attachment therapy, I like the article. Something needs to be done to stop the spead of these attachment therapist claiming 100% success. I had the horrifing experience of dragging my family though a group pretty much using the re-birthing process. Do any of these groups ever have success? All I see ever helping these kids tends to be the meds. they get put on.
Something in the blurb really should address the fact that there are many cons out there taking advantage of very desperate parents trying to help their adoptive kids.
PLEASE DON"T DELETE THE Attachment therapy article... I wished I'd had it to read before what all we went through.
Our city even pays for adoptive families to go their. All therapy consists of is parents being held down on air mats to do that deep breathing stuff. It was very hurtful to our family. This was since 2002. These programs are all over the country. It really is a big scam. Lots of kids are getting hurt.
1. The links to other articles are consistent with the [[Wikipdedia: Manuel of Style], "The use of links to other Wikipedia articles, for example, Ant, is encouraged. Use the links for all words and terms that are relevant to the article. The purpose of internal links is to allow readers to easily and conveniently follow their curiosity or research to other articles. These links should be included where it is most likely that a reader would want to follow them elsewhere — for example, in article introductions, the beginnings of new sections, table cells, and image captions. Generally, where it is likely that a reader may wish to read about another topic, the reader should not have to hunt for a link elsewhere in the page." and does not meet the criteria for "over-linking."
2. The Also see section also belongs. The purpose of that section is to provide a convenient location for the reader to find relevant and related links without having to search the entire article.
3. The statement, "A number of advocacy groups, such as Advocates for Children in Therapy and Quackwatch have undertaken to label nearly all treatments for children with disorders of attachment as "Attachment Therapy" and attempt to discredit those therapies." is accurate. The citation would be the ACT webpage. ACT clearly states that there is no place for "Attachment Therapy" in treatment. (note they use the term "Attachment Therapy" and not Attachment therapy or attachment therapy, so their defination is specific to that term.
4. The statement, "label nearly all treatments for children with disorders of attachment as Attachment Therapy and attempt to discredit those therapies." is supported, for example, by ACT's criticism of EMDR, affective attunement, Theraplay, therapeutic parenting, developmental attachment therapy, dyadic developmental therapy, dyadic developmental psychotherapy, which are not coercive restraint therapies and, some of which, have a clear evidence base.
However, at this point it would be best to involve others in this discussion and see what other editors think about this. DPetersontalk 13:59, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
'PLEASE VOICE YOUR VOTE BELOW ON WHETHER TO KEEP OR DELETE THE FOLLOWING:"A number of advocacy groups, such as Advocates for Children in Therapy and Quackwatch have undertaken to label nearly all treatments for children with disorders of attachment as "Attachment Therapy" and attempt to discredit those therapies." (See point 3 above). Be sure to sign your name.
'For Keeping Language in point 3'
'Against Keeping Language in point 3'
'Neutral about either one'
Wouldn't it be worthwhile to add information about some cases like the Cassandra Killpack death [2] to this entry? Possibly in a "Criticisms" section? I'm afraid I don't have the time to add something like this myself right now, but I was surprised that there wasn't something like it here already. -- HiEv 07:18, 16 December 2006 (UTC)
As a childhood victim of so-called "attachment therapy," I, too, beg you not to remove this article. People need to know what they're getting into when they subject their children to this horrible, insane business. Y'all don't want to know some of the stuff that was done to <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Lupin/navpop.css&action=raw&ctype=text/css&dontcountme=s">me by a particular psychiatrist in the 70's who had adopted these quack beliefs, in the name of forcing my behavior to conform to expected norms. I was thrown to the ground with huge adults sitting on my back (I fainted once because I could not breathe), I had my hair pulled, was forced to sit in isolation for long periods of time, was berated over matters that were completely opaque to me, was repeatedly forced to witness punishments of other children...all the while, as I found out as an adult, my little sister was being threatened with the same (although she was allowed to imagine that I was suffering even worse punishments than I really was) if she did not behave herself; she spent her childhood terribly frightened that the punishments visited upon me might be inflicted upon her as well. One day I remember I was made to pretend to drive an invisible shopping cart around an invisible grocery store, and kept being "held" in punishment for "running into" invisible items, and this in front of an entire therapy group of children and their parents. Another day I was forced to witness a lengthy hair-pulling episode--the therapist was pulling a little girl's hair because she had had a fight with her father in the lobby and he apparently had yelled out a loud curse word which she was being forced to repeat in front of the group but would not because she was embarrassed, and she was crying and crying and crying (a few years later, I heard this little girl had gotten pregnant and run away from home).
I am not kidding. Although some of the particular practices that were inflicted upon me and the other children in my "therapy" group may have changed in the intervening decades, the overall philosophy of breaking the child's "bad behavior" (I would say "breaking the child," really) by the application of weird, horrendous, often irrational aversives is still the same, and yes, sometimes it kills, as I have heard (and I wonder how many children have committed suicide years later as a result of this treatment, which can be devastating to the self-esteem as it was to mine?). This is "attachment therapy." It is quackery and child abuse, pure and simple, and it is horrifying. It teaches the child all about power and who has it (adults, who can use it any way they want) and who doesn't (children, who must conform, succumb, and submit), it teaches children that the world is all about the necessity for absolute conformity to irrational authority, it teaches cruel treatment, it teaches about evil, and I don't think it teaches any children to love their parents any better!
I think a neutral point of view specifying the current state of research into this matter and citing various authorities about its nature and consequences should be sufficient to awaken confused parents to what they're getting into. This is not a "low priority article"! And thanks to Dr. Mercer. Songflower 07:34, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
songflower,
i have seen just a little of this 'attachment therapy' and was completely shocked. how this can be happening in this day is beyond me. and the money these people make doing this. i think that is the problem
""it teaches children that the world is all about the necessity for absolute conformity to irrational authority""
how well put! exactly!
email me. i am trying to change some things about this
raspor 13:17, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
Hi, Raspor, I would email you but do not know how to access your email address...pls. advise? ThanksSongflower 07:32, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Raspor
just go there and click the email use button. or go to your control box and allow me to mail you.
i am very involved in this and i want to stop it. i have seen enough of this and i have seen very little
your phrase about 'irrational authortiy' was right on
raspor 12:13, 3 January 2007 (UTC)
i am working with a reporter in a major newspaper on this
we could really use your input
thanks
It seems to me that there should be a section on the prevalence of this treatment. From what I can tell, it is unusual at this point in time. Now that the Ameerican Psychological Association, National Association of Social Workers, APSAC, Association for the Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Chilren, American Academy of Child Psychiatry, etc. all have practice protocals prohibiting "Attachment Therapy" as defined in this article, none of the members of those groups and professions can use such techniques and remain members. Obviously, unlicensed persons can do what they want and there are cases of malpractice in all professions, but beyond that, it does seem that the prevalence of "Attachment Therapy" as defined in this article is probably very very low. Unless there is some strong objections, I will add such a section. RalphLendertalk 22:46, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
https://license.ohio.gov/Lookup/SearchDetail.asp?ContactIdnt=3600351&DivisionIdnt=97&Type=L i think is see what happened raspor 16:24, 5 January 2007 (UTC) Yes, neither one is facing disciplinary action per your links. JohnsonRon 20:09, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
Good citation...it does appear that both are licensed therapists...but neither one has any action pending against them with the licensing board, based on your link. However, it is important to remember that all professions experience a tiny amount malpractice, which seems to be the case hereRalphLendertalk 17:07, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
The section looks good that you added, Ralph. Furthermore, your points are excellent...there are probably very very few people practicing "AT" as defined in this article.
"Attachment Therapy is a growing, underground movement for the 'treatment' of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers. There is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor. Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation."[4]
Few, if any licensed individuals or members of the professional organizaitons listed use these practices...to do so would result in their loosing their license and loosing memberhip in their professional organization.
I would say there are about 700 attachment therapists in the US. do you consider that a high number. and in Ohio about 70% of the funds set aside for post adoptive services go to attachment therapists. its big biz and big bucks here raspor 18:14, 5 January 2007 (UTC)
"Attachment Therapy" involves the use of practices prohibited by a large number of professional organizations such as the following: American Psychological Association, National Association of Social Workers, APSAC, Association for the Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrry.
To the best of my knowledge the above organizations do not prohibit attachment therapy. Many State Boards actually certify it.
need cites —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.109.232.53 (talk) 23:29, 26 February 2007 (UTC). There are no reliable statistics on how many professionals actually practice "Attachment Therapy" or "rebirthing as it is also known. However, as defined in this article, "Attachment Therapy" involves the use of practices prohibited by a large number of professional organizations such as the following: American Psychological Association,[does not prohibit AT ] National Association of Social Workers 3, [ this reference is to the utah social workder board. the national does not prohibit ]American Professional society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC0 4, Association for the Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrry, and the American Psychiatric Association. 5.[ this one is correct Members of those organizations are prohibited from using methods and techniques proscribed by those organizations codes of ethics and practice parameters. Violations of those standards would result in expulsion of the organization. [ AT is rarely prohibited. most state boards actually approve continuing ed courses in it ] Therefore there are very few practitioners of "AT" as defined in this article. Furthermore, several states have outlawed "rebirthing," and anyone using such methods would be guilty of malpractice, which is a small problem in all professions
[ millions of tax dollars are spent on AT ] 68.109.232.53 22:19, 27 February 2007 (UTC)
the American Psychology Association and the Natl Social Workers Org do not take a stance on AT. And AT is approved and encouraged by most States. Yes 'rebirthing' has been outlawed in Utah but everything else is still OK.
69.211.150.60 13:39, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
DPetersontalk 21:56, 2 March 2007 (UTC)"Attachment Therapy is a growing, underground movement for the 'treatment' of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers." In discussing Attachment Therapy they state, "there is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor."
I've been following this debate with some interest. Can I just say that I don't see why proponents of respectable therapies to deal with attachment disorders need to be quite so defensive about 'Attachment Therapy'. The issues seem quite simple. If 'Attachment Therapy' as described in this article exists then it clearly warrants a straightforward informative article. At the moment the article reads as if it's drafted by people afraid that mud might stick to any therapy designed to address attachment disorders. Clearly it is important to point out that governmental and professional organisations outlaw such techniques, but if in fact some local government bodies or regulated bodies are sanctioning such techniques that's equally important.Fainites 23:30, 10 March 2007 (UTC)
I have been giving this matter some thought, and with all due respect to the current editors I think this article needs refocussing. It is apparent that 'Attachment Therapy' whether it is spelt with one capital, two or none, in the sense of coercive restraint therapies as described in the article is a significant problem. If it wasn't, why would all the main professional bodies and a number of states outlaw it, however it is described? Why would Chaffin be commissioned to write his report? I would propose de-emphasising ACT and attempting to focus the article on it's subject in broader terms. I would agree with the current editors that ACT are not justified in including in their 'lists of shame' various therapies, including EMDR, Feldenkrais, Theraplay and DDP. Also some items on their list, such as 'attachment disorder therapy' are far to vague and general. This does need to be made clear, but should not be the focus of this article. Fainites 14:18, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
Adding material could be quite useful. I don't think the article is emphasising ACT; ACT had a lot of material about this subject. I think the article makes clear that EMDR, etc are not Attachment Therapy as defined in this article and does so quite well. I would certainly support adding material to this article to expand it further. I hope you will put your suggestions in the section below so that we can build on it. RalphLendertalk 14:50, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
Hooray! Fainites 20:10, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
'Pls add your suggestions below'
(I have in fact substantially rewritten the article. I haven't added a ref section here. Everything cited is reffed. The main cites are Chaffin, Speltz, Prior and Glaser and ACT. We could also include actual refs to Zaslow/ K=Cline/Hughes etc if necessary)
This is a great start. I added references and a see also list, among other edits to add material and make some suggestions. I removed some material that may appear to be too POV and/or that are without referecnes to support the statements. DPetersontalk 00:55, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
Thanks! Unfortunately I don't see how anybody else can comment on it as you've removed great chunks of it and then added back in most of the existing article!! Talk pages should not be refactored. We could put it onto a seperate page so as not to make the talk page too long. For now, I've replaced the proposed new article and left your amended version below it so that we can keep playing with it.
On content, I think adding holding and rebirthing in the first sentence confuses the issue. Holding and rebirthing are terms used as similiar terms to "Attachment Therapy." DPetersontalk 12:22, 14 April 2007 (UTC) It's 'attachment therapy' that's the ambiguous term. (and all it's meanings, inlcluding rebirthing, etc. DPetersontalk 12:22, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) I would have thought 'holding therapy' was pretty non-ambiguous. Also although Quackwatch/ACT are, in my opinion somewhat cavalier in their inclusion on various lists they don't actually list any of the verifiably mainstream attachment treatments. As far as I can see the controversy relates mostly to Theraplay and DDP and there is plenty of information on that controversy. (I don't see that there is a a controversay regarding those treatments...ACT and Quackwatch seem to go after all treatments for children who have experienced RADDPetersontalk 12:22, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) I think therefore we need to rephrase this bit. My intention was to take this article away from the ACT wars so that it gives a fair and balanced description of it's subject.
Do you have any references for the list of therapies in your version of the article that state they are all effective and evidence based? (Yes, see the reference listDPetersontalk 12:22, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) The trouble is, some of them don't have specific names. Chaffin etc avoid naming specific therapies but instead describes what the characteristic of appropriuate therapies. Perhaps we should just quote him on that. On references, could you please be specific about which bits you've removed as being 'unreferenced' or 'POV'? Do you have the dates of when various organisations and states beefed up their codes to outlaw this sort of thing? Fainites 09:00, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
Actually, I just had an idea! We could comment on your amendments in italics in the text. I'll give it a try. Fainites 09:12, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
I've removed the see also and refs as they just make the talk page longer and any way it's not a proper ref list for this article. We can easily do that when we amend the article. The refs I've used are the English version of Chaffin at [[6]], 'Speltz, Matthew L.(2002). Description, History and Critique of Corrective Attachment Therapy. The APSAC Advisor, 14 (3) 4-8. and 'Understanding Attachment and Attachment Disorders. Theory, Evidence and Practice. Vivien Prior and Danya Glaser. The Royal College of Psychiatrists Research and Training Unit. (2006) Pub. Jessica Kingsley. Heres the Amazon link. [[7]] Fainites 10:01, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
I'll go ahead and comment on your version below. Italics is a good ideaDPetersontalk 12:22, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
(Added capsDPetersontalk 19:59, 15 April 2007 (UTC))
"Attachment Therapy", ”attachment therapy” "holding therapy," rebirthing therapy, these terms are synonyms for attachment therapy when one looks at the web and such sites as the ACT, etc. sitesDPetersontalk 12:31, 14 April 2007 (UTC)(We should not be basing this article around ACT. The report by Chaffin et al contains alot of serious players in this field and was specifically commissioned to address this whole area. Clearly they should be the lead authority, not ACT!Fainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) Actually, that is not the case. The article is about coercion in treatment and attachment therapy not "Attachment Therapy." ACT has the clearest definations of this construct and deserves a central place. I actually like the other editors suggestion of maybe just having a very brief article that defines the construct using a few sources. DPetersontalk 18:30, 14 April 2007 (UTC) (attachment therapy redirects here. This article isn't about just Attachment Therapy with capital letters just because ACT use capital letters! It's about the whole phenomenon. One of the features of this type of therapy as explained by Chaffin is the proliferation of names.Fainites 05:40, 15 April 2007 (UTC))Therefore, using all the various names it goes by, such as rebirthing, etc. is relevant, and the ambiguity of the term should be clearly stated throughout the article so readers don't get the misimpression that it is a discrete phenomenon DPetersontalk 14:54, 15 April 2007 (UTC)or ‘’corrective attachment therapy’’ is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder which is itself an ambiguous term. However, because the term has no common meaning, or generally accepted meaning, in the professional community, its actual definition is unclear. A number (who else?Fainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) ACT and QuackWatchDPetersontalk 18:30, 14 April 2007 (UTC) of advocacy groups, such as Advocates for Children in Therapy and Quackwatch have undertaken to label nearly all (hardly nearly allFainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) Actually they do seem to label nearly all DPetersontalk 18:30, 14 April 2007 (UTC) treatments for children with disorders of attachment as "Attachment Therapy" and attempt to discredit those therapies. (Added some details here and bring the controversary into the intro so the reader can see that at the beginning DPetersontalk 12:31, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) (which controversy? I don't think this article should revolve around disagreements with ACT as it has in the past. That can be done on the ACT page. ACT are not the prime authority for this subjectFainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) (There is substantial disagreements on what this ambig. term means...it's sort of like an inkblotDPetersontalk 18:30, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) . ( yes but we ought to tackle this by giving the clearest global definition which is Chaffin et al, not ACT) Fainites 05:42, 15 April 2007 (UTC)) Actually, I think ACT has the clearest definition...but as I suggested below, we could put Chaffin's material first and then the ACT material section. Would that be an acceptable compromise for you? DPetersontalk 14:54, 15 April 2007 (UTC) Yes, that would be great.JonesRDtalk 18:54, 15 April 2007 (UTC) OK. Thats fineFainites 20:51, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
The treatments often involve coercive and intrusive methods including variants of holding therapy or rebirthing or rage-reduction. According to Prior and Glaser (2006), ‘these therapies are not based on an accepted version of attachment theory and there is no objective evaluation of them’. Attachment Therapy came to the attention of professional bodies and the wider public following a series of prosecutions for deaths or serious maltreatment of children allegedly at the hands of 'attachment therapists' or parents following their instructions, the most well known case being that of Candace Newmaker. Many professional bodies and some American States have outlawed rebirthing (it is rebirthing that has been outlawedDPetersontalk 12:31, 14 April 2007 (UTC)(Haven't other practices been outlawed? Fainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) Such as? If you can find evidence of such, by all means put in it with the source. DPetersontalk 18:30, 14 April 2007 (UTC)such practices but because there is no common definition of the terms, such regulation tends to refer to a range of coercive and intrusive practices considered counter-therapeutic rather than ‘attachment therapy’. Care should be taken to distinguish between this subset of therapies and more mainstream therapies which may also be loosely described as attachment or attachment disorder therapy. For the purposes of this article, the term used to describe this subset is ‘Attachment Therapy’ as defined by the advocacy group ACT They have the most clear defination of this termDPetersontalk 12:31, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
(I think we should prioritise the definition of verified, credible sources such as Chaffin et al and Prior and Glaser, not ACT. ACT are a POV group!Fainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC))
ACT has spend a lot of time and effort advocating in this area and so their material is very relevant and appropriate. If you want the Chafin para's first and then the ACT para's that would be fine with me...What do others think? DPetersontalk 18:30, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
(OK. I agree ACT is relevent. But this article is not about ACT and their definition. It's about the phenomenon of attachment therapy, with or without capitals, as a non-mainstream, subset of 'therapies' with a particular belief system and mode of therapy.Fainites 06:01, 15 April 2007 (UTC))
Why don't you want ACT material in the article? I don't understand your objection. They have written the most material about this subject. Why would you want to cut out there material? It clearly is relevant.DPetersontalk 14:54, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
What is wrong with the ACT material...it should be included...If there is some reason for not including it, please state that. While I don't agree with that group, they do have material that is relevant to this article.JonesRDtalk 18:54, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
I don't have a problem with ACT. The world needs dedicated campaigning groups! It's just that for an encyclopaedia the prime need is verified and credible sources and there is an obvious heirarchy on any subject that is scientific. Chaffin et al have very thoughtfully provided us with a complete analysis of the whole subject, just when we needed it! I think their definitions are not only more comprehensive in the scientific sense but also more likely to meet Wiki standards for evidence based, peer reviewed stuff or expert opinion that's genuinely expert. ACT play a supporting role in an encyclopaedia I think.Fainites 20:57, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
There is no generally accepted definition of "Attachment Therapy," and it is not a term that is found in generally recognized texts on treatment modalities, such as Bergin & Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change, nor is there any specific text that describes this "treatment" approach. However, the advocacy group, Advocates for Children in Therapy does offer guidance on this subject. While this group is not a professional mental health group in the same manner that the American Psychiatric Association or American Psychological Association or National Association of Social Workers are, and none of the leaders are licensed mental professionals or clinicians, they do offer some ideas for a description of what this term can mean. ACT states, "Attachment Therapy is a growing, underground movement for the 'treatment' of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers." In discussing Attachment Therapy they state, "there is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor." [8] ACT further defines "Attachment Therapy" as, "Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation."[9] The group also uses the terms "rebirthing" and "holding therapy" as terms for "Attachment Therapy." They have the most clear set of definations for this term, so we should put the details here. DPetersontalk 12:38, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
The term has little commonly agreed upon meaning in the professional literature. For example, it is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual. The American Professional Society on Abuse of children (APSAC) (Chaffin et al.,2006, PMID 16382093) does not use the term "Attachment Therapy," but has disapproved of coercive and intrusive methods of treatment as inappropriate for treatment while approving a broad range of effective treatments for children with disorders of attachment that do not use coercive methods. Begin with a clear statement that there are differences in the meaning of this term and its use or non-use DPetersontalk 12:34, 14 April 2007 (UTC)(This is misleading. It implies that Chaffin et al ducked the issue when they didn'tFainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) There are clear differences in usage and meaning that should be reflected in a comprehensive encyclopedia article. DPetersontalk 18:34, 14 April 2007 (UTC) (I agree there are clear differences in meaning and usage and the article must reflect that, but in a way that makes it plain what the article is about. Not in a way that effectively says the article is about nothing at allFainites 06:09, 15 April 2007 (UTC))
The report of the APSAC Task Force on Attachment Therapy, Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Problems (Chaffin et al 2006) describe it as follows (If this is a direct quote, we need a page number)DPetersontalk 19:50, 15 April 2007 (UTC) "The attachment therapy controversy has centred most broadly on the use of what is known as “holding therapy” (Welch, 1988) and coercive, restraining, or aversive procedures such as deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, punishments related to food and water intake, enforced eye contact, requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs, barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker, encouraging children to regress to infant status, reparenting, attachment parenting, or techniques designed to provoke cathartic emotional discharge. Variants of these treatments have carried various labels that appear to change frequently. They may be known as “rebirthing therapy,” “compression holding therapy,” “corrective attachment therapy,” “the Evergreen model,” “holding time,” or “rage-reduction therapy” (Cline, 1991; Lien, 2004; Levy & Orlans, 1998; Welch, 1988). Popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions.” Good quote. DPetersontalk 14:59, 15 April 2007 (UTC) p77.
Speltz (2002) in a paper for the APSAC
Was the paper for the APSAC or merely in the journal Child Maltreatment...that is a very important distinction that should be clarified. DPetersontalk 14:59, 15 April 2007 (UTC) He was ASPAC advisor and it was printed by permission of the ASPAC.Fainites 21:07, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
describes ‘corrective attachment therapy’ as follows: ‘… the holding therapies included in “corrective” attachment therapy do not address safety needs. They differ in that a therapist or parent initiates the holding process for the purpose of provoking strong, negative emotions in the child (e.g., fear, anger), and the child’s release is typically contingent upon his or her compliance with the therapist’s clinical agenda.
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe ‘Attachment therapy’ as a combination of ‘loose’ diagnosis of attachment disorders and a variety of treatments offered to desperate carers of troubled, maltreated children which often include variants of holding, eg holding time (Welch 1998), therapeutic holding (Howe and Fearnley 2003), rage reduction therapy (Cline 1991) and rebirthing. They also cite age regression as ‘key to the holding therapy approach.’ p265. (Better to have a direct quote and not paraphrase as you are doing...also be sure when you add the quote to include a page number for the citation. I think this should be left out unless you want have a section defining "age regression," whatever that means.DPetersontalk 19:53, 15 April 2007 (UTC)) Direct quote set out in new version below. I would also point out that Chaffin includes it in his description of 'attachment therapies' and in his list of guidelines of what not to do.Fainites 21:09, 15 April 2007 (UTC) The advocacy group campaigning group is not a term generally used. ACT is an advocacy group DPetersontalk 12:35, 14 April 2007 (UTC),(OK. That may just be a transatlantic thing.Fainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) Advocates for Children in Therapy define, "Attachment Therapy (AT)..’ as ‘…a growing, underground movement for the treatment of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers. AT practitioners allege that the root cause of the children’s misbehavior is a failure to 'attach' to their caregivers. The purported correction by AT is — literally — to force the children into loving (attaching to) their parents ...there is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor." [[10]
In a paper for the APSAC by Speltz (2002) the roots of ‘Attachment Therapy’ are traced to Robert Zaslow in the 1970’s. Zaslow attempted to force attachment in those suffering from autism by creating pain and rage whilst enforcing eye contact. He believed that holding someone against their will would lead to a breakdown in their defence mechanism’s making them more receptive to others. Speltz point’s out that these ideas have been dispelled by research into autism and that, conversely, techniques based on behavioural principles have proved effective.
Speltz cites Martha Welch and ‘holding time’ (1984 and 1989) as the next significant development. Mothers were instructed to hold their defiant child, provoking anger and rage, until such time as the child ceased to resist at which point a bonding process was believed to begin. Similar techniques were subsequently promoted by Foster Cline and associates at the Attachment Centre at Evergreen, Inc. (now renamed the Institute For Attachment and Child Development) and duplicated elsewhere in other clinics such as ‘The Center’ in the Pacific northwest. Do you have a citation to support these last accusations? If not, it should be removed.DPetersontalk 12:40, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
According to Prior and Glaser (2006) ‘there is no empirical evidence to support Zaslows theory. The concept of suppressed rage has, nevertheless, continued to be a central focus explaining the children’s behaviour (Cline 1991)’.
Chaffin et al describe the underlying principles as follows; “In contrast to traditional attachment theory, the theory of attachment described by controversial attachment therapies is that young children who experience adversity (including maltreatment, loss, separations, adoption, frequent changes in child care, colic or even frequent ear infections) become enraged at a very deep and primitive level. As a result, these children are conjectured to lack an ability to attach or to be genuinely affectionate to others. Suppressed or unconscious rage is theorized to prevent the child from forming bonds with caregivers and leads to behavior problems when the rage erupts into unchecked aggression. The children are described as failing to develop a conscience and as not trusting others. They are said to seek control rather than closeness, resist the authority of caregivers, and engage in endless power struggles. From this perspective, children described as having attachment problems are seen as highly manipulative in their social relations and actively trying to avoid true attachments while simultaneously striving to control adults and others around them through manipulation and superficial sociability. Children described as having attachment problems are alleged by proponents of the controversial therapies to be at risk for becoming psychopaths who will go on to engage in very serious delinquent, criminal, and antisocial behaviors if left untreated’. need a page number if this is an actual quoteDPetersontalk 15:04, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
Prior and Glaser cite the one published study which ‘purports to be an evaluation of holding therapy’ by Myeroff et al (1999). The methodology of this study is heavily criticised, including the use of the Child Behaviour Checklist they don't criticize the use of the CBCL, so this error should be deletedDPetersontalk 12:42, 14 April 2007 (UTC). (actually that bit is a bit unclear as to whether they're criticising the list or the way its used.Fainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) provide a direct quote and then others can determine. They don't criticize the use of CBCL This is a very reputable instrucment widely used in the field of mental health. DPetersontalk 18:39, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) (as I said, it's unclear. Therefore it should not be included from 'Including' onwardsFainites 06:17, 15 April 2007 (UTC))This study covers the ‘across the lap’ type holding therapy, described as ‘not restraint’ by Howe and Fearnley (2003) but ‘being held whilst unable to gain release.’ According to Prior and Glaser, regression is key to the holding therapy approach,Do you have a specific page number and quote to support this interpretation of their work...it would be good to include that as well as what they mean by age-regression.DPetersontalk 15:04, 15 April 2007 (UTC) but was explicitly rejected by Bowlby (1988) who stated that ‘a theory of developmental pathways should replace theories that invoke specific phases of development in which it is held a person may become fixated and/or to which he may regress.’ This last line really is irrelevant and should be removed.DPetersontalk 12:42, 14 April 2007 (UTC)( It's not irrelevant. It's part of the underlying 'theory' of this type of therapy. How can it be irrelevant if Prior and Glaser say it's 'key' and Chaffin et al list it in their description?Fainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) I don't read the Bowlby quote as rejecting this notion. Furthermore, if this included then you will need to include clarifying material (just two or three para's would do) that "age regression" is not the same as treating a child at the child's developmental level, not chronological age; which is widely accepted in treatment of children with trauma (See Dr. Brue Perry's materal, 2006, for example) DPetersontalk 18:39, 14 April 2007 (UTC) (we can expand this as necessary. I can put in the whole bit from Glaser, including the Bowlby quote and then readers can see it allFainites 06:17, 15 April 2007 (UTC)) Yes, let's take a look at that so that other editors can also comment.DPetersontalk 15:04, 15 April 2007 (UTC) Prior and Glaser cite the one published study which ‘purports to be an evaluation of holding therapy’ by Myeroff et al (1999). This study covers the ‘across the lap’ type holding therapy, described as ‘not restraint’ by Howe and Fearnley (2003) but ‘being held whilst unable to gain release.’ This would be better DPetersontalk 12:43, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe ‘two discourses’ on attachment disorder. One science based, found in academic journals and books with careful reference to theory, international classifications and evidence. They list Bowlby, Ainsworth, Tizard, Hodges, Chisholm, O’Connor and Zeanah and colleagues as respected attachment theorists and researchers in the field. The other discourse is found in clinical practice, non-academic literature and on the Internet where claims are made which have no basis in attachment theory and for which there is no empirical evidence. In particular unfounded claims are made as to efficacy of ‘treatments’.
Attachment disorders are classified in DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10. DSM describes Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood, divided into two subtypes, Inhibited Type and Disinhibited Type. The ICD classification describes two types, Reactive Attachment Disorder of Childhood and Disinhibited Attachment Disorder of Childhood. Both classifications are under constant discussion and both warn against automatic diagnosis based on abuse or neglect. Many ‘symptoms’ are present in a variety of other more common and more easily treatable disorders.
DSM and ICD are limited and some researchers in the field of attachment such as Zeannah have proposed alternative diagnostic criteria to describe broader disorders of attachment but the exact parameters are not yet established.
Chaffin et al and Prior and Glaser describe the proliferation of alternative ‘lists’ and diagnoses, particularly on the Internet, by proponents of Attachment Therapies that do not accord with either DSM or ICD classifications and which are partly based on the unsubstantiated views of Zaslow and Menta (1975) and Cline (1991). Neither do these lists accord with alternative diagnostic criteria as proposed above. According to Chaffin et al 'These types of lists are so nonspecific that high rates of false-positive diagnoses are virtually certain.' Prior and Glaser state that many of the behaviors in the lists are likely to be the consequences of neglect and abuse rather than located within the attachment paradigm.
::I concur. DPetersontalk 18:40, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
Traditional use of the term "traditional" is irrelvant. It is Attachment theory. DPetersontalk 12:44, 14 April 2007 (UTC) (Actually I think this is a quote from Chaffin. I'll checkFainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) (Yes it is a quote. I just forgot the comma.Sorry.Fainites 21:14, 15 April 2007 (UTC)) attachment theory holds that caregiver qualities such as environmental stability, parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to children’s physical and emotional needs, consistency, and a safe and predictable environment support the development of healthy attachment. From this perspective, improving these positive caretaker and environmental qualities is the key to improving attachment. From the traditional don't need "traditional" here DPetersontalk 12:45, 14 April 2007 (UTC) attachment theory viewpoint, therapy for children who are maltreated and described as having attachment problems emphasizes providing a stable environment and taking a calm, sensitive, nonintrusive, nonthreatening, patient, predictable, and nurturing approach toward children (Haugaard, 2004a; Nichols, Lacher,&May, 2004). (Chaffin et al).Treatment and prevention programs that use methods congruent with attachment theory and with well established principles of child development (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) include: Alicia Lieberman (Parent-child Psychotherapy) (Lieberman & Pawl in Infant Mental Health, 1993 )(Lieberman 2003), Stanley Greenspan (Floor Time), Daniel Hughes (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) (Becker-Weidman & Shell, 2005) (Becker-Weidman, 2006a) (Becker-Weidman, 2006b) (Hughes, 2003), Mary Dozier (autonomous states of mind), Robert Marvin (Circle of Security) (Marvin & Whelan 2003), Phyllis Jernberg (Theraplay), Daniel Schechter (Clinician Assisted Videofeedback Exposure Sessions) (Schechter, 2003), and Joy Osofsky (Safe Start Initiative) (in Infant Mental Health, 1993. These are evidence based treatments; citations in peer reviewed professional publications.DPetersontalk 12:47, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
I don't know until I've read them all.Fainites 21:29, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
No need for this para now. DPetersontalk 12:53, 14 April 2007 (UTC)Prior and Glaser (2006) describe evidence based treatments, all of which revolve around enhancing caregiver sensitivity, or change of caregiver if that is not possible. Based on meta-analyses by Bakermans-Krananburg et al (2003) This is now old and leaves out material published after 2000DPetersontalk 12:52, 14 April 2007 (UTC) (Prior and Glaser was published August 2006. As I say. It takes time to be accepted as 'evidence based'. Also, they are another credible verified source supporting the description of what proper therapies areFainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) So their material is based on sources from 2004 and before. Again, each approach listed has a reliable source and thus meets the wiki standard of being verifiable and shold be included. DPetersontalk 18:46, 14 April 2007 (UTC)(see above for verifiability.Fainites 06:31, 15 April 2007 (UTC)) All the citations are in the reference list, just the links are missing. DPetersontalk 15:15, 15 April 2007 (UTC) covering 70 published studies for assessing sensitivity, 81 studies on sensitivity and 29 on attachment security and many further randomised intervention studies involving over 7,000 families, the methods singled out to have shown good results were 'Watch, wait and wonder' (Cohen et al 1999), manipulation of sensitive responsiveness, (van den Boom 1994 and 1995), modified 'Interaction Guidance' (Benoit et al 2001), 'Preschool Parent Psychotherapy', (Toth et al (2002) and 'Circle of Security' (Marvin et al 2002).
It's not 'old'. Glaser is published 2006. There is no basis for saying the treatments she describes as evidence based are out of date! Furthermore, Chaffin quotes the same meta-analysis they do. How long do you guys think it takes to do this kind of research on children? It takes years and years to develop a therapy and do the research and earn the title 'evidence based' Fainites 21:19, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
This para is unneed and could be seen as POVDPetersontalk 12:54, 14 April 2007 (UTC)The focus of non-evidence based Attachment Therapies is somewhat different. According to Prior and Glaser ‘These include work directed at parents interactions with the children such as behaviour management, life story work and work on the meanings of the child’s experience, and some approaches are directed at the child and may or may not include the child’s primary carer. Attachment therapy often however, also includes some other interventions including a number of variants of holding, eg holding time (Welch 1998) and therapeutic holding (Howe and Fearnley) as well as others such as rage-reduction therapy (Cline 1991) and rebirthing.’ They also refer to the ‘Handbook of Attachment Interventions’ (Levy 2000), Levy and Orlans and the ‘Holding Nurturing Process.’ The evidence based treatments mentioned in the prev, uneeded par, also focus on parents interactions with children. This is a confusing para ...it should goDPetersontalk 12:55, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
According to O’Connor and Zeanah (2003 p235) "The holding approach would be viewed as intrusive and therefore non-sensitive and counter therapeutic".
Chaffin et al (2006) describe how the conceptual focus of these treatments is the childs individual internal pathology and past caregivers rather than current parent-child relationships or current environment, to the extent that if the child is well behaved outside the home this is seen as manipulative. It was noted that this perspective has its attractions because it relieves the caregivers of responsibility to change aspects of their own behavior and aspirations. Proponents of the controversial therapies emphasize the child’s resistance to attachment and the need to break down the child’s resistance (Institute for Attachment and Child Development, n.d.).'
Like the standards on bio's of living persons, you must really be careful about making statements about the practice of an existing entity. The Speltz material is many years old now. Are you sure the Center still does this? If so, I think you must provide a relevant current citation. DPetersontalk 12:58, 14 April 2007 (UTC)(OK we can remove the name. The description is pretty central tho'. Chaffin etc were following on where Speltz left off and in psychology terms, 4 years is not very long.Fainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) I isn't really central to an article on Attachment Therapy as I see it. DPetersontalk 18:46, 14 April 2007 (UTC) (this article isn't just about the capital letter version. Chaffin is not the only person to make the point that one of the attractions of this kind of therapy is that it focuses on there being something wrong with the child that needs to be changed rather than focussing on the caregiver. The key to all the therapies that Glaser gives as evidence based is that they ALL revolve around caregiver sensetivityFainites 06:31, 15 April 2007 (UTC)) However, all the current protocols regarding trauma treatment DO call for the exploration and revisting of past trauma...this material is not a direct quote and so may be a mis-interpretation. I'd suggest leaving it out or putting in their direct quote so that that reader can understand what they actually said. The line there now "focus of these treatments is the childs individual internal pathology and past caregivers," is misleading because it leads one to conclude that a focus on past trauma is "bad," while that is precisely what is required to resolve trauma (See The National Child Trauma Center's White Paper on Complex Trauma, J. Briere's book Principles of Trauma Treatment, etc., etc.)DPetersontalk 15:15, 15 April 2007 (UTC) Trauma treatment and attachment treatment are not the same thing. The Chaffin quote is verified and credible. If there is another source, like the one you've mentioned, that's also verified and credible and relevant to attachment, then stick it in. The two don't mutually cancel each other. Anyway, I don't read that as saying dealing with past traumas is bad. It's about the false notions of what is an attachment issue. Both sources highlight the attachment therapies concentration on changing the child when all the evidence based therapies concentrate on carer sensitivity. Therapy for trauma is something different.Fainites 21:28, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
Speltz describes a typical treatment taken from The Center’s material as follows; ‘Like Welsh (1984, 1989), The Center induces rage by physically restraining the child and forcing eye contact with the therapist (the child must lie across the laps of two therapists, looking up at one of them). In a workshop handout prepared by two therapists at The Center, the following sequence of events is described: (1) therapist “forces control” by holding (which produces child “rage”); (2) rage leads to child “capitulation” to the therapist, as indicated by the child breaking down emotionally (“sobbing”); (3) the therapist takes advantage of the child’s capitulation by showing nurturance and warmth; (4) this new trust allows the child to accept “control” by the therapist and evenutally the parent. According to The Center’s treatment protocol, if the child “shuts down” (i.e., refuses to comply), he or she may be threatened with detainment for the day at the clinic or forced placement in a temporary foster home; this is explained to the child as a consequence of not choosing to be a “family boy or girl.” If the child is actually placed in foster care, the child is then required to “earn the way back to therapy” and a chance to resume living with the adoptive family. This whole para should go since it is merely a POV attack on that program and not central to this article.DPetersontalk 12:59, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
Often parents are required to follow programmes of treatment at home, for example, obedience-training techniques such as "strong sitting" (frequent periods of required silence and immobility) and withholding or limiting food (Thomas, 2001). Also requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs and barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker.
ACT’s site contains descriptions of the more extreme versions of these attachment therapies, including a link to the transcript of the ‘rebirthing’ process that lead to the death by suffocation of Candace Newmaker at the hands of her ‘therapists’. According to ACT "Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation." [11]
This intro para is better. It clearly defines the issue and subjectDPetersontalk 13:01, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
There are no reliable statistics on how many professionals actually practice "Attachment Therapy" or "rebirthing as it is also known. However, as defined in this article, "Attachment Therapy" involves the use of practices prohibited by a large number of professional organizations such as the following: American Psychological Association[[12]], National Association of Social Workers[[13]], American Professional society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) [[14]], Association for the Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrry ("Practice Parameter for the Assessment of Children and Adolescent with Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy and Early Childhood" in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, vol 44, Nov 2005 and at [[15]]),and the American Psychiatric Association. [[16]]. Members of those organizations are prohibited from using methods and techniques proscribed by those organizations codes of ethics and practice parameters. Violations of those standards would result in expulsion of the organization. Therefore there are very few practitioners of "AT" as defined in this article. Furthermore, several states have outlawed "rebirthing," and anyone using such methods would be guilty of malpractice, which is a small problem in all professions. DPetersontalk 13:01, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
It is difficult to ascertain the prevalence of these therapies but they are sufficiently prevalent to have prompted reactions as outlined by Chaffin et al as follows;
The practice of some forms of these treatments has resulted in professional licensure sanctions against some leading proponents of the controversial attachment therapies. There have been cases of successful criminal prosecution and incarceration of therapists or parents using controversial attachment therapy techniques and state legislation to ban particular therapies. Position statements against using coercion or restraint as a treatment were issued by mainstream professional societies (American Psychiatric Association, 2002) and by a professional organization focusing on attachment and attachment therapy (Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children [ATTACh], 2001). Despite these and other strong cautions from professional organizations, the controversial treatments and their associated concepts and foundational principles appear to be continuing among networks of attachment therapists, attachment therapy centers, caseworkers, and adoptive or foster parents (Hage, n.d.-a; Keck, n.d.)’. This is not related to prevelance and should be deleted.DPetersontalk 13:02, 14 April 2007 (UTC)(Suggest we rename the 'prevalence ' section then. The statement that there are 'very few' practitioners is OR and POV. The quote from Chaffin is not. I think it would be less confusing if we could outline which organisations prohibited these practices and when, and who did so following the Chaffin report. Chaffin laid down guidelines. Two organisations adopted the report wholesale. Your suggestion is confusing but it isn't clear whether all these things were always prohibited and therefore it's completely beyond the pale, or whether the spate of regulation is in response to prevalence.Fainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC))
Chaffin describes the polarization between the proponents of ‘Attachment Therapy’ and mainstream therapies stating ‘This polarization is compounded by the fact that attachment therapy has largely developed outside the mainstream scientific and professional community and flourishes within its own networks of attachment therapists, treatment centers, caseworkers, and parent support groups. Indeed, proponents and critics of the controversial attachment therapies appear to move in different worlds.’ not related to prev DPetersontalk 13:02, 14 April 2007 (UTC)(Central to prevalence and highly releventFainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC))(Completely relevent to prevalence.Fainites 18:03, 14 April 2007 (UTC))A particular concern of both Chaffin et al and Prior and Glaser is the use of the Internet to advertise these therapies and the use of unscientific and 'wildly inclusive' lists of 'symptoms' (Prior and Glaser). According to Chaffin et al 'These types of lists are so nonspecific that high rates of false-positive diagnoses are virtually certain. Posting these types of lists on Web sites that also serve as marketing tools may lead many parents or others to conclude inaccurately that their children have attachment disorders.' Many of the behaviors in the lists are likely to be the consequences of neglect and abuse rather than located within the attachment paradigm. Descriptions of children are frequently highly perjorative and 'demonising'. According to Chaffin et al 'Proponents of controversial attachment therapies commonly assert that their therapies, and their therapies alone, are effective for children with attachment disorders and that more traditional treatments are either ineffective or harmful’. They also express concern over claims by therapies to be 'evidence based' or indeed the 'only' evidence based therapy when the Task Force found no credible evidence base for any such therapy so advertised. This para is unnecessary...not related to this subject headingDPetersontalk 13:04, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
Prior and Glaser (2006) state ‘The practice of holding therapy is not confined to the USA.’ And give an example of a center in the UK practising ‘therapeutic holding’ of the across the lap variety.cite a page# if you are going to provide a direct and accurate quoteDPetersontalk 13:04, 14 April 2007 (UTC)(p263Fainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC))
the article should not be a springboard for one POV by ACTDPetersontalk 13:05, 14 April 2007 (UTC)( I agree. That's why it suprises me that so many of the above amendments put ACT in the driving seat for definitions and descriptions. Surely it makes sense to use the valid, peer reviewed authorities for this, not an advocacy group. I'd be quite happy to put everything relating to ACT in a seperate section.Fainites 17:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC))The advocacy group ACT claim "Attachment Therapy is a growing, underground movement for the 'treatment' of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers." The ACT site also contains a list of alleged "Attachment Therapies' by another name, some of whose proponents vehemently deny being derived from or in any way related to 'Attachment Therapy' as described by ACT or this article. The list also contains descriptions too broad to be a ‘name’ of any particular therapy such as ‘attachment disorder therapy’. Fainites 12:09, 13 April 2007 (UTC)Don't think this para is necessary...but maybe it goes under the defination if anywhereDPetersontalk 13:05, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
|
Becker-Weidman, A., & Shell, D., (2005) Creating Capacity for Attachment. Oklahoma City, OK: Wood 'N' Barnes.
Becker-Weidman (2006a) Treatment for Children with Trauma-Attachment Disorders: Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. 23(2), April 2006
Becker-Weidman, A., (2006b) Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy: a multi year follow-up. in Sturt, S., (ed) New Developments in Child Abuse Research. NY: Nova
Becker-Weidman, A., (2006c) “Treatment For Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder: Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy,” Child and Adolescent Mental Health Published article online: 21-Nov-2006 doi: 10.1111/j.1475-3588.2006.00428.x.[[17]]
Berliner, L. (2002).Why caregivers turn to "attachment therapy" and what we can do that is better. APSAC Advisor, 14(4), 8-10.
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment. New York: Basic.
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Cline, F. (1994). Hope for high risk and rage-filled children. Evergreen, CO: EC Publications.
Hughes, D., (2003). Psychotherapeutic interventions for the spectrum of attachment disorders and intrafamilial trauma. Attachment and Human Development 5-3, 271-279.
Hughes, D. (2004). An attachment-based treatment of maltreated children and young people. Attachment & Human Development, 3, 263–278.
Krenner, M. (1999). Ein Erklaerungsmodell zur "Festhaltetherapie" nach Jirina Prekop. Retrieved Oct. 25, 2000, from http://wwwalt.uni-wuerzburg.de/gbpaed/mixed/work/mkrenner1.html.
Levy, T.M., Ed. (2000). Handbook of attachment interventions. San diego: Academic.
Lieberman, A., (2003). The treatment of attachment disorder in infancy and early childhood. Attachment and Human Development 5-3, 279-283.
Marvin, R., & Whelan, W., (2003) Disordered attachment: toward evidence-based clinical practice. Attachment and Human Development 5-3, 284-299.
O'Connor, C., & Zeanah, C., Attachment disorder: assessment strategies and treatment approaches, Attachment and Human Development 5, 223-244.
Schechter, D.S. (2003). Intergenerational communication of maternal violent trauma: Understanding the interplay of reflective functioning and posttraumatic psychopathology. In S.W. Coates, J.L. Rosenthal, & D.S. Schechter (Eds.), September 11: Trauma and Human Bonds. New York, NY: The Analytic Press, pp. 115-143.
Thomas, N. (2001). Parenting children with attachment disorders. In T.M. Levy (Ed.), Handbook of attachment interventions. San Diego, CA: Academic.
Verny, T., & Kelly, J. (1981). The secret life of the unborn child. New York: Dell.
Welch, M.G. (1989) Holding time. New York:Fireside.
Welch, M.G., Northrup, R.S., Welch-Horan, T.B., Ludwig, R.J., Austin, C.L., & Jacobson, J.S.(2006). Outcomes of prolonged parent-child embrace therapy among 102 children with behavioral disorders. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 12, 3-12.
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Zeanah, C., (1993) Infant Mental Health. NY: Guilford.
(This section contains DPetersons proposed amendments to Fainites proposed article, and Fainites comments in italics. Fainites 09:48, 14 April 2007 (UTC))
"Attachment Therapy", ”attachment therapy,” holding therapy, rebirthing therapy, or ‘’corrective attachment therapy’’ is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder, which is itself an ambiguous term. However, because the term has no common meaning, or generally accepted meaning, in the professional community, its actual definition is unclear. A number of advocacy groups, such as Advocates for Children in Therapy and Quackwatch have undertaken to label nearly all treatments for children with disorders of attachment as "Attachment Therapy" and attempt to discredit those therapies. (this bit should be in a seperate section that deals with the ACT controversy aspect Fainites 09:28, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) The treatments often involve coercive and intrusive methods including variants of holding therapy or rebirthing or rage-reduction. According to Prior and Glaser (2006), ‘these therapies are not based on an accepted version of attachment theory and there is no objective evaluation of them’. Many professional bodies and some American States have outlawed rebirthing therapy.(haven't they outlawed a bit more than just rebirthing? Didn't some base their codes on Chaffin's recommendations? Fainites 09:34, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) Care should be taken to distinguish between this subset of therapies and more mainstream therapies which may also be loosely described as attachment or attachment disorder therapy. For the purposes of this article, the term used to describe this subset is ‘Attachment Therapy.’
The term has little commonly agreed upon meaning in the professional literature. For example, it is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual. The American Professional Society on Abuse of children (APSAC) (Chaffin et al.,2006, PMID 16382093) does not use the term "Attachment Therapy," but has disapproved of coercive and intrusive methods of treatment as inappropriate for treatment while approving a broad range of effective treatments for children with disorders of attachment that do not use coercive methods. (this proceeding sentence doesn't quite make sense here because the whole point of Chaffin is that he is attempting to define and describe the issue. I think we need to amalgamate these two section more carefullyFainites 09:28, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) The report of the APSAC Task Force on Attachment Therapy, Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Problems (Chaffin et al 2006) describe it as follows; "The attachment therapy controversy has centred most broadly on the use of what is known as “holding therapy” (Welch, 1988) and coercive, restraining, or aversive procedures such as deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, punishments related to food and water intake, enforced eye contact, requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs, barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker, encouraging children to regress to infant status, reparenting, attachment parenting, or techniques designed to provoke cathartic emotional discharge. Variants of these treatments have carried various labels that appear to change frequently. They may be known as “rebirthing therapy,” “compression holding therapy,” “corrective attachment therapy,” “the Evergreen model,” “holding time,” or “rage-reduction therapy” (Cline, 1991; Lien, 2004; Levy & Orlans, 1998; Welch, 1988). Popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions.”
Speltz (2002) in a paper for the APSAC (Was it written for APSAC or merely printed in one of their publications such as Child Maltreatment?DPetersontalk 19:42, 15 April 2007 (UTC)) describes ‘corrective attachment therapy’ as follows; ‘… the holding therapies included in “corrective” attachment therapy do not address safety needs. They differ in that a therapist or parent initiates the holding process for the purpose of provoking strong, negative emotions in the child (e.g., fear, anger), and the child’s release is typically contingent upon his or her compliance with the therapist’s clinical agenda.
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe ‘Attachment therapy’ as a combination of ‘loose’ diagnosis of attachment disorders and a variety of treatments offered to desperate carers of troubled, maltreated children which often include variants of holding, eg holding time (Welch 1998), therapeutic holding (Howe and Fearnley 2003), rage reduction therapy (Cline 1991) and rebirthing. They also cite age regression as ‘key to the holding therapy approach.’ p265.
The advocacy group, Advocates for Children in Therapy define, "Attachment Therapy (AT)..’ as ‘…a growing, underground movement for the treatment of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers. AT practitioners allege that the root cause of the children’s misbehavior is a failure to 'attach' to their caregivers. The purported correction by AT is — literally — to force the children into loving (attaching to) their parents ...there is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor." [[18]
There is no generally accepted definition of "Attachment Therapy," and it is not a term that is found in generally recognized texts on treatment modalities, such as Bergin & Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change, nor is there any specific text that describes this "treatment" approach.(this preceding sentence needs to be amalgamated with the above paragraph. The bit below merely duplicates what has already been put in. Fainites 09:28, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) However, the advocacy group, Advocates for Children in Therapy does offer guidance on this subject. While this group is not a professional mental health group in the same manner that the American Psychiatric Association or American Psychological Association or National Association of Social Workers are, and none of the leaders are licensed mental professionals or clinicians, they do offer some ideas for a description of what this term can mean.(this last sentence is misleading as it suggests that nobody knows what 'Attachment Therapy' means when it has in fact been carefully described by Chaffin, Speltz and Prior and Glaser. We don't need to depend on ACT for a description of Attachment Therapy. Fainites 09:28, 14 April 2007 (UTC))
ACT states, "Attachment Therapy is a growing, underground movement for the 'treatment' of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers." In discussing Attachment Therapy they state, "there is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor." [19]
ACT further defines "Attachment Therapy" as, "Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation."[20]
The group also uses the terms "rebirthing" and "holding therapy" as terms for "Attachment Therapy."
In a paper for the APSAC by Speltz (2002) the roots of ‘Attachment Therapy’ are traced to Robert Zaslow in the 1970’s. Zaslow attempted to force attachment in those suffering from autism by creating pain and rage whilst enforcing eye contact. He believed that holding someone against their will would lead to a breakdown in their defence mechanism’s making them more receptive to others. Speltz point’s out that these ideas have been dispelled by research into autism and that, conversely, techniques based on behavioural principles have proved effective.
Speltz cites Martha Welch and ‘holding time’ (1984 and 1989) as the next significant development. Mothers were instructed to hold their defiant child, provoking anger and rage, until such time as the child ceased to resist at which point a bonding process was believed to begin. Similar techniques were subsequently promoted by Foster Cline and associates at the Attachment Centre at Evergreen, Inc. (now renamed the Institute For Attachment and Child Development) and duplicated elsewhere in other clinics such as ‘The Center’ in the Pacific northwest.
According to Prior and Glaser (2006) ‘there is no empirical evidence to support Zaslows theory. The concept of suppressed rage has, nevertheless, continued to be a central focus explaining the children’s behaviour (Cline 1991)’.
Chaffin et al describe the underlying principles as follows; “In contrast to traditional attachment theory, the theory of attachment described by controversial attachment therapies is that young children who experience adversity (including maltreatment, loss, separations, adoption, frequent changes in child care, colic or even frequent ear infections) become enraged at a very deep and primitive level. As a result, these children are conjectured to lack an ability to attach or to be genuinely affectionate to others. Suppressed or unconscious rage is theorized to prevent the child from forming bonds with caregivers and leads to behavior problems when the rage erupts into unchecked aggression. The children are described as failing to develop a conscience and as not trusting others. They are said to seek control rather than closeness, resist the authority of caregivers, and engage in endless power struggles. From this perspective, children described as having attachment problems are seen as highly manipulative in their social relations and actively trying to avoid true attachments while simultaneously striving to control adults and others around them through manipulation and superficial sociability. Children described as having attachment problems are alleged by proponents of the controversial therapies to be at risk for becoming psychopaths who will go on to engage in very serious delinquent, criminal, and antisocial behaviors if left untreated’.
Prior and Glaser cite the one published study which ‘purports to be an evaluation of holding therapy’ by Myeroff et al (1999). This study covers the ‘across the lap’ type holding therapy, described as ‘not restraint’ by Howe and Fearnley (2003) but ‘being held whilst unable to gain release.’( why did you remove the rest of this paragraph? Its verified, credible and properly sourced and cited. Fainites 09:36, 14 April 2007 (UTC))
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe ‘two discourses’ on attachment disorder. One science based, found in academic journals and books with careful reference to theory, international classifications and evidence. They list Bowlby, Ainsworth, Tizard, Hodges, Chisholm, O’Connor and Zeanah and colleagues as respected attachment theorists and researchers in the field. The other discourse is found in clinical practice, non-academic literature and on the Internet where claims are made which have no basis in attachment theory and for which there is no empirical evidence. In particular unfounded claims are made as to efficacy of ‘treatments’.
Attachment disorders are classified in DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10. DSM describes Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood, divided into two subtypes, Inhibited Type and Disinhibited Type. The ICD classification describes two types, Reactive Attachment Disorder of Childhood and Disinhibited Attachment Disorder of Childhood. Both classifications are under constant discussion and both warn against automatic diagnosis based on abuse or neglect. Many ‘symptoms’ are present in a variety of other more common and more easily treatable disorders.
DSM and ICD are limited and some researchers in the field of attachment such as Zeannah have proposed alternative diagnostic criteria to describe broader disorders of attachment but the exact parameters are not yet established.
Chaffin et al and Prior and Glaser describe the proliferation of alternative ‘lists’ and diagnoses, particularly on the Internet, by proponents of Attachment Therapies that do not accord with either DSM or ICD classifications and which are partly based on the unsubstantiated views of Zaslow and Menta (1975) and Cline (1991). Neither do these lists accord with alternative diagnostic criteria as proposed above. According to Chaffin et al 'These types of lists are so nonspecific that high rates of false-positive diagnoses are virtually certain.' Prior and Glaser state that many of the behaviors in the lists are likely to be the consequences of neglect and abuse rather than located within the attachment paradigm.
Attachment theory holds that caregiver qualities such as environmental stability, parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to children’s physical and emotional needs, consistency, and a safe and predictable environment support the development of healthy attachment. From this perspective, improving these positive caretaker and environmental qualities is the key to improving attachment. From the traditional attachment theory viewpoint, therapy for children who are maltreated and described as having attachment problems emphasizes providing a stable environment and taking a calm, sensitive, nonintrusive, nonthreatening, patient, predictable, and nurturing approach toward children (Haugaard, 2004a; Nichols, Lacher,&May, 2004). (Chaffin et al). ( I'm not to sure about this list business. I put the list in from Prior and Glaser and you have your list here, but I'm wondering if this isn't all a bit unwise. This article is about the OTHER therapies. Should we in fact like Chaffin confine ourselves to describing the characteristics of mainstream treatment rather than getting involved in lists, every entry in which will need to be independently and credibly verified and about which there are bound to be disagreements about who's in and who's out.Fainites 09:37, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) ((I've commented above in your article to keep all comments in one place. I think it is important to list these reputable approaches...once you begin to list approaches, leaving out affiliated approaches, like Theraplay, is damming by omission. We don't need to confine the list to Chafin, especially since that article only covers material through about 2004 and more recent material should be included. The other approaches included have the appropriate citations necessarry to include them. Not including them appears POV.JonesRDtalk 17:34, 14 April 2007 (UTC)) (I think however we do the list looks POV which is perhaps why Chaffin etc wisely decided not to do a list. Maybe we should follow his exampleFainites 18:31, 14 April 2007 (UTC))Treatment and prevention programs that use methods congruent with attachment theory and with well established principles of child development (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) include: Alicia Lieberman (Parent-child Psychotherapy) (Lieberman & Pawl in Infant Mental Health, 1993 )(Lieberman 2003), Stanley Greenspan (Floor Time), Daniel Hughes (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) (Becker-Weidman & Shell, 2005) (Hughes, 2003), Mary Dozier (autonomous states of mind), Robert Marvin (Circle of Security) (Marvin & Whelan 2003), Phyllis Jernberg (Theraplay), Daniel Schechter (Clinician Assisted Videofeedback Exposure Sessions) (Schechter, 2003), and Joy Osofsky (Safe Start Initiative) (in Infant Mental Health, 1993.
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe evidence based treatments, all of which revolve around enhancing caregiver sensitivity, or change of caregiver if that is not possible. Based on meta-analyses by Bakermans-Krananburg et al (2003) covering 70 published studies for assessing sensitivity, 81 studies on sensitivity and 29 on attachment security and many further randomised intervention studies involving over 7,000 families, the methods singled out to have shown good results were 'Watch, wait and wonder' (Cohen et al 1999), manipulation of sensitive responsiveness, (van den Boom 1994 and 1995), modified 'Interaction Guidance' (Benoit et al 2001), 'Preschool Parent Psychotherapy', (Toth et al (2002) and 'Circle of Security' (Marvin et al 2002).
According to O’Connor and Zeanah (2003 p235) "The holding approach would be viewed as intrusive and therefore non-sensitive and counter therapeutic".
Chaffin et al (2006) describe how the conceptual focus of these treatments is the childs individual internal pathology and past caregivers rather than current parent-child relationships or current environment, to the extent that if the child is well behaved outside the home this is seen as manipulative. It was noted that this perspective has its attractions because it relieves the caregivers of responsibility to change aspects of their own behavior and aspirations. Proponents of the controversial therapies emphasize the child’s resistance to attachment and the need to break down the child’s resistance.'
Often parents are required to follow programmes of treatment at home, for example, obedience-training techniques such as "strong sitting" (frequent periods of required silence and immobility) and withholding or limiting food (Thomas, 2001). Also requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs and barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker.
The APSAC report does not describe "Attachment Therapy", it uses the term "attachment therapy" (no caps or quotation marks). They state, “The terms attachment disorder, attachment problems, and attachment therapy, although increasingly used, have no clear, specific, or consensus definitions. Pg 77 Furthermore, what seems to be focus of this proposed page only addresses a very narrow area, “Controversies have arisen about potentially harmful attachment therapy techniques used by a subset of attachment therapists.” Pg 76 Attachment therapy is better discussed in context, especially if the focus is on “a particular subset of attachment therapy techniques developed by a subset of attachment therapy practitioners” pg 77. The controversy is a narrow one and should be placed in context so that readers understand the full range of issues. “ The attachment therapy controversy has centered most broadly on the use of what is known as “holding therapy” (Welch, 1988) and coercive, restraining, or aversive procedures such as deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, punishments related to food and water intake, enforced eye contact, requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs, barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker, encouraging children to regress to infant status, reparenting, attachment parenting, or techniques designed to provoke cathartic emotional discharge” pg 83.( I frankly don't understand why you've put this paragraph in here. The issue of descriptions/capitals/non-capitals should be dealt with in the intro or definition section, and indeed is. Also the fact that this is a subset. That's what this article is all about! Who says the 'controversy is a narrow one'? I also think we need to establish the context in the intro and the definition section. I think we should stick to the commentators on this. Fainites 09:28, 14 April 2007 (UTC))
ACT’s site contains descriptions of the more extreme versions of these attachment therapies, including a link to the transcript of the ‘rebirthing’ process that lead to the death by suffocation of Candace Newmaker at the hands of her ‘therapists’. According to ACT "Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation." [21]
There are no reliable statistics on how many professionals actually practice "Attachment Therapy" or "rebirthing as it is also known. However, as defined in this article, "Attachment Therapy" involves the use of practices prohibited by a large number of professional organizations such as the following: American Psychological Association[[22]], National Association of Social Workers[[23]], American Professional society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) [[24]], Association for the Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrry ("Practice Parameter for the Assessment of Children and Adolescent with Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy and Early Childhood" in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, vol 44, Nov 2005 and at [[25]]) , and the American Psychiatric Association. [[26]]. Members of those organizations are prohibited from using methods and techniques proscribed by those organizations codes of ethics and practice parameters. Violations of those standards would result in expulsion of the organization. Therefore there are very few practitioners of "AT" as defined in this article. Furthermore, several states have outlawed "rebirthing," and anyone using such methods would be guilty of malpractice, which is a small problem in all professions.
by Chaffin et al state, ‘The practice of some forms of these treatments has resulted in professional licensure sanctions against some leading proponents of the controversial attachment therapies. There have been cases of successful criminal prosecution and incarceration of therapists or parents using controversial attachment therapy techniques and state legislation to ban particular therapies. Position statements against using coercion or restraint as a treatment were issued by mainstream professional societies (American Psychiatric Association, 2002) and by a professional organization focusing on attachment and attachment therapy (Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children [ATTACh], 2001). Despite these and other strong cautions from professional organizations, the controversial treatments and their associated concepts and foundational principles appear to be continuing among networks of attachment therapists, attachment therapy centers, caseworkers, and adoptive or foster parents (Hage, n.d.-a; Keck, n.d.)’.
( I think it makes more sense to put Chaffins views on prevalence first and then list the organisations and states that have outlawed it afterwards. However, Chaffin does make the point that just because people regulate against it doesn't mean it goes away. What is the source for saying it is 'rare'? I think Chaffin is the best source we have on prevalence. Also, why have you removed Prior and Glaser on the UK? and why have you removed Chaffin on polarization?Fainites 09:45, 14 April 2007 (UTC))
This is a really good start!. I'll be interested to see what other editors think and the read their suggested additions etc. I'll make mine above in the prev section. I encourage other editors to review the above material and make their suggested edits and changes to it so we can build consensus. DPetersontalk 00:28, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
"Attachment Therapy", ”attachment therapy,” holding therapy, rebirthing therapy, or ‘’corrective attachment therapy’’ is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder, which is itself an ambiguous term. However, because the term has no common meaning, or generally accepted meaning, in the professional community, its actual definition is unclear. A number of advocacy groups, such as Advocates for Children in Therapy and Quackwatch have undertaken to label nearly all treatments for children with disorders of attachment as "Attachment Therapy" and attempt to discredit those therapies. The treatments often involve coercive and intrusive methods including variants of holding therapy or rebirthing or rage-reduction. According to Prior and Glaser (2006), ‘these therapies are not based on an accepted version of attachment theory and there is no objective evaluation of them’. Many professional bodies and some American States have outlawed rebirthing therapy. Care should be taken to distinguish between this subset of therapies and more mainstream therapies which may also be loosely described as attachment or attachment disorder therapy. For the purposes of this article, the term used to describe this subset is ‘Attachment Therapy.’
The term has little commonly agreed upon meaning in the professional literature. For example, it is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual. The American Professional Society on Abuse of children (APSAC) (Chaffin et al.,2006, PMID 16382093) does not use the term "Attachment Therapy," but has disapproved of coercive and intrusive methods of treatment as inappropriate for treatment while approving a broad range of effective treatments for children with disorders of attachment that do not use coercive methods. The report of the APSAC Task Force on Attachment Therapy, Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Problems (Chaffin et al 2006) describe it as follows; "The attachment therapy controversy has centred most broadly on the use of what is known as “holding therapy” (Welch, 1988) and coercive, restraining, or aversive procedures such as deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, punishments related to food and water intake, enforced eye contact, requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs, barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker, encouraging children to regress to infant status, reparenting, attachment parenting, or techniques designed to provoke cathartic emotional discharge. Variants of these treatments have carried various labels that appear to change frequently. They may be known as “rebirthing therapy,” “compression holding therapy,” “corrective attachment therapy,” “the Evergreen model,” “holding time,” or “rage-reduction therapy” (Cline, 1991; Lien, 2004; Levy & Orlans, 1998; Welch, 1988). Popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions.”
Speltz (2002) in a paper for the APSAC describes ‘corrective attachment therapy’ as follows; ‘… the holding therapies included in “corrective” attachment therapy do not address safety needs. They differ in that a therapist or parent initiates the holding process for the purpose of provoking strong, negative emotions in the child (e.g., fear, anger), and the child’s release is typically contingent upon his or her compliance with the therapist’s clinical agenda.
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe ‘Attachment therapy’ as a combination of ‘loose’ diagnosis of attachment disorders and a variety of treatments offered to desperate carers of troubled, maltreated children which often include variants of holding, eg holding time (Welch 1998), therapeutic holding (Howe and Fearnley 2003), rage reduction therapy (Cline 1991) and rebirthing. They also cite age regression as ‘key to the holding therapy approach.’ p265.
The advocacy group, Advocates for Children in Therapy define, "Attachment Therapy (AT)..’ as ‘…a growing, underground movement for the treatment of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers. AT practitioners allege that the root cause of the children’s misbehavior is a failure to 'attach' to their caregivers. The purported correction by AT is — literally — to force the children into loving (attaching to) their parents ...there is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor." [[27]
There is no generally accepted definition of "Attachment Therapy," and it is not a term that is found in generally recognized texts on treatment modalities, such as Bergin & Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change, nor is there any specific text that describes this "treatment" approach. However, the advocacy group, Advocates for Children in Therapy does offer guidance on this subject. While this group is not a professional mental health group in the same manner that the American Psychiatric Association or American Psychological Association or National Association of Social Workers are, and none of the leaders are licensed mental professionals or clinicians, they do offer some ideas for a description of what this term can mean.
ACT states, "Attachment Therapy is a growing, underground movement for the 'treatment' of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers." In discussing Attachment Therapy they state, "there is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor." [28]
ACT further defines "Attachment Therapy" as, "Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation."[29]
The group also uses the terms "rebirthing" and "holding therapy" as terms for "Attachment Therapy."
In a paper for the APSAC by Speltz (2002) the roots of ‘Attachment Therapy’ are traced to Robert Zaslow in the 1970’s. Zaslow attempted to force attachment in those suffering from autism by creating pain and rage whilst enforcing eye contact. He believed that holding someone against their will would lead to a breakdown in their defence mechanism’s making them more receptive to others. Speltz point’s out that these ideas have been dispelled by research into autism and that, conversely, techniques based on behavioural principles have proved effective.
Speltz cites Martha Welch and ‘holding time’ (1984 and 1989) as the next significant development. Mothers were instructed to hold their defiant child, provoking anger and rage, until such time as the child ceased to resist at which point a bonding process was believed to begin. Similar techniques were subsequently promoted by Foster Cline and associates at the Attachment Centre at Evergreen, Inc. (now renamed the Institute For Attachment and Child Development) and duplicated elsewhere in other clinics such as ‘The Center’ in the Pacific northwest.
According to Prior and Glaser (2006) ‘there is no empirical evidence to support Zaslows theory. The concept of suppressed rage has, nevertheless, continued to be a central focus explaining the children’s behaviour (Cline 1991)’.
Chaffin et al describe the underlying principles as follows; “In contrast to traditional attachment theory, the theory of attachment described by controversial attachment therapies is that young children who experience adversity (including maltreatment, loss, separations, adoption, frequent changes in child care, colic or even frequent ear infections) become enraged at a very deep and primitive level. As a result, these children are conjectured to lack an ability to attach or to be genuinely affectionate to others. Suppressed or unconscious rage is theorized to prevent the child from forming bonds with caregivers and leads to behavior problems when the rage erupts into unchecked aggression. The children are described as failing to develop a conscience and as not trusting others. They are said to seek control rather than closeness, resist the authority of caregivers, and engage in endless power struggles. From this perspective, children described as having attachment problems are seen as highly manipulative in their social relations and actively trying to avoid true attachments while simultaneously striving to control adults and others around them through manipulation and superficial sociability. Children described as having attachment problems are alleged by proponents of the controversial therapies to be at risk for becoming psychopaths who will go on to engage in very serious delinquent, criminal, and antisocial behaviors if left untreated’.
Prior and Glaser cite the one published study which ‘purports to be an evaluation of holding therapy’ by Myeroff et al (1999). This study covers the ‘across the lap’ type holding therapy, described as ‘not restraint’ by Howe and Fearnley (2003) but ‘being held whilst unable to gain release.’
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe ‘two discourses’ on attachment disorder. One science based, found in academic journals and books with careful reference to theory, international classifications and evidence. They list Bowlby, Ainsworth, Tizard, Hodges, Chisholm, O’Connor and Zeanah and colleagues as respected attachment theorists and researchers in the field. The other discourse is found in clinical practice, non-academic literature and on the Internet where claims are made which have no basis in attachment theory and for which there is no empirical evidence. In particular unfounded claims are made as to efficacy of ‘treatments’.
Attachment disorders are classified in DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10. DSM describes Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood, divided into two subtypes, Inhibited Type and Disinhibited Type. The ICD classification describes two types, Reactive Attachment Disorder of Childhood and Disinhibited Attachment Disorder of Childhood. Both classifications are under constant discussion and both warn against automatic diagnosis based on abuse or neglect. Many ‘symptoms’ are present in a variety of other more common and more easily treatable disorders.
DSM and ICD are limited and some researchers in the field of attachment such as Zeannah have proposed alternative diagnostic criteria to describe broader disorders of attachment but the exact parameters are not yet established.
Chaffin et al and Prior and Glaser describe the proliferation of alternative ‘lists’ and diagnoses, particularly on the Internet, by proponents of Attachment Therapies that do not accord with either DSM or ICD classifications and which are partly based on the unsubstantiated views of Zaslow and Menta (1975) and Cline (1991). Neither do these lists accord with alternative diagnostic criteria as proposed above. According to Chaffin et al 'These types of lists are so nonspecific that high rates of false-positive diagnoses are virtually certain.' Prior and Glaser state that many of the behaviors in the lists are likely to be the consequences of neglect and abuse rather than located within the attachment paradigm.
Attachment theory holds that caregiver qualities such as environmental stability, parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to children’s physical and emotional needs, consistency, and a safe and predictable environment support the development of healthy attachment. From this perspective, improving these positive caretaker and environmental qualities is the key to improving attachment. From the traditional attachment theory viewpoint, therapy for children who are maltreated and described as having attachment problems emphasizes providing a stable environment and taking a calm, sensitive, nonintrusive, nonthreatening, patient, predictable, and nurturing approach toward children (Haugaard, 2004a; Nichols, Lacher,&May, 2004). (Chaffin et al). Treatment and prevention programs that use methods congruent with attachment theory and with well established principles of child development (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) include: Alicia Lieberman (Parent-child Psychotherapy) (Lieberman & Pawl in Infant Mental Health, 1993 )(Lieberman 2003), Stanley Greenspan (Floor Time), Daniel Hughes (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) (Becker-Weidman & Shell, 2005) (Hughes, 2003), Mary Dozier (autonomous states of mind), Robert Marvin (Circle of Security) (Marvin & Whelan 2003), Phyllis Jernberg (Theraplay), Daniel Schechter (Clinician Assisted Videofeedback Exposure Sessions) (Schechter, 2003), and Joy Osofsky (Safe Start Initiative) (in Infant Mental Health, 1993.
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe evidence based treatments, all of which revolve around enhancing caregiver sensitivity, or change of caregiver if that is not possible. Based on meta-analyses by Bakermans-Krananburg et al (2003) covering 70 published studies for assessing sensitivity, 81 studies on sensitivity and 29 on attachment security and many further randomised intervention studies involving over 7,000 families, the methods singled out to have shown good results were 'Watch, wait and wonder' (Cohen et al 1999), manipulation of sensitive responsiveness, (van den Boom 1994 and 1995), modified 'Interaction Guidance' (Benoit et al 2001), 'Preschool Parent Psychotherapy', (Toth et al (2002) and 'Circle of Security' (Marvin et al 2002).
According to O’Connor and Zeanah (2003 p235) "The holding approach would be viewed as intrusive and therefore non-sensitive and counter therapeutic".
Chaffin et al (2006) describe how the conceptual focus of these treatments is the childs individual internal pathology and past caregivers rather than current parent-child relationships or current environment, to the extent that if the child is well behaved outside the home this is seen as manipulative. It was noted that this perspective has its attractions because it relieves the caregivers of responsibility to change aspects of their own behavior and aspirations. Proponents of the controversial therapies emphasize the child’s resistance to attachment and the need to break down the child’s resistance.'
Often parents are required to follow programmes of treatment at home, for example, obedience-training techniques such as "strong sitting" (frequent periods of required silence and immobility) and withholding or limiting food (Thomas, 2001). Also requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs and barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker.
The APSAC report does not describe "Attachment Therapy", it uses the term "attachment therapy" (no caps or quotation marks). They state, “The terms attachment disorder, attachment problems, and attachment therapy, although increasingly used, have no clear, specific, or consensus definitions. Pg 77 Furthermore, what seems to be focus of this proposed page only addresses a very narrow area, “Controversies have arisen about potentially harmful attachment therapy techniques used by a subset of attachment therapists.” Pg 76 Attachment therapy is better discussed in context, especially if the focus is on “a particular subset of attachment therapy techniques developed by a subset of attachment therapy practitioners” pg 77. The controversy is a narrow one and should be placed in context so that readers understand the full range of issues. “ The attachment therapy controversy has centered most broadly on the use of what is known as “holding therapy” (Welch, 1988) and coercive, restraining, or aversive procedures such as deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, punishments related to food and water intake, enforced eye contact, requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs, barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker, encouraging children to regress to infant status, reparenting, attachment parenting, or techniques designed to provoke cathartic emotional discharge” pg 83.
ACT’s site contains descriptions of the more extreme versions of these attachment therapies, including a link to the transcript of the ‘rebirthing’ process that lead to the death by suffocation of Candace Newmaker at the hands of her ‘therapists’. According to ACT "Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation." [30]
There are no reliable statistics on how many professionals actually practice "Attachment Therapy" or "rebirthing as it is also known. However, as defined in this article, "Attachment Therapy" involves the use of practices prohibited by a large number of professional organizations such as the following: American Psychological Association[[31]], National Association of Social Workers[[32]], American Professional society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) [[33]], Association for the Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrry ("Practice Parameter for the Assessment of Children and Adolescent with Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy and Early Childhood" in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, vol 44, Nov 2005 and at [[34]]) , and the American Psychiatric Association. [[35]]. Members of those organizations are prohibited from using methods and techniques proscribed by those organizations codes of ethics and practice parameters. Violations of those standards would result in expulsion of the organization. Therefore there are very few practitioners of "AT" as defined in this article. Furthermore, several states have outlawed "rebirthing," and anyone using such methods would be guilty of malpractice, which is a small problem in all professions.
by Chaffin et al state, ‘The practice of some forms of these treatments has resulted in professional licensure sanctions against some leading proponents of the controversial attachment therapies. There have been cases of successful criminal prosecution and incarceration of therapists or parents using controversial attachment therapy techniques and state legislation to ban particular therapies. Position statements against using coercion or restraint as a treatment were issued by mainstream professional societies (American Psychiatric Association, 2002) and by a professional organization focusing on attachment and attachment therapy (Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children [ATTACh], 2001). Despite these and other strong cautions from professional organizations, the controversial treatments and their associated concepts and foundational principles appear to be continuing among networks of attachment therapists, attachment therapy centers, caseworkers, and adoptive or foster parents (Hage, n.d.-a; Keck, n.d.)’.
I'd like to hear what other editors think of the following proposal. Instead of trying to cover the waterfront and all aspects here. Why not just have an article that defines attachment therapy using available mateirals? JonesRDtalk 17:13, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
"Attachment Therapy", ”attachment therapy,” holding therapy, rebirthing therapy, or ‘’corrective attachment therapy’’ is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder, which is itself an ambiguous term. However, because the term has no common meaning, or generally accepted meaning in the professional community, its actual definition is unclear. A number of advocacy groups, such as Advocates for Children in Therapy and Quackwatch have undertaken to label nearly all treatments for children with disorders of attachment as "Attachment Therapy" and attempt to discredit those therapies. The treatments often involve coercive and intrusive methods including variants of holding therapy or rebirthing or rage-reduction. According to Prior and Glaser (2006), ‘these therapies are not based on an accepted version of attachment theory and there is no objective evaluation of them’. Many professional bodies and some American States have outlawed rebirthing therapy. Care should be taken to distinguish between this subset of therapies and more mainstream therapies which may also be loosely described as attachment or attachment disorder therapy. For the purposes of this article, the term used to describe this subset is ‘Attachment Therapy.’
Attachment Therapy is a term with little commonly agreed upon meaning in the professional literature. For example, it is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual. It is not a term that is found in generally recognized texts on treatment modalities, such as Bergin & Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change (2006), nor is there any specific text that describes this "treatment" approach. However, the advocacy group, Advocates for Children in Therapy does offer guidance on this subject. While this group is not a professional mental health group in the same manner that the American Psychiatric Association or American Psychological Association or National Association of Social Workers are, and none of the leaders are licensed mental professionals or clinicians, they do offer some ideas for a description of what this term can mean.
The advocacy group, Advocates for Children in Therapy define, "Attachment Therapy (AT)..’ as ‘…a growing, underground movement for the treatment of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers. AT practitioners allege that the root cause of the children’s misbehavior is a failure to 'attach' to their caregivers. The purported correction by AT is — literally — to force the children into loving (attaching to) their parents ...there is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor." [[36]
The American Professional Society on Abuse of children (APSAC) (Chaffin et al.,2006, PMID 16382093) does not use the term "Attachment Therapy," but has disapproved of coercive and intrusive methods of treatment as inappropriate for treatment while approving a broad range of effective treatments for children with disorders of attachment that do not use coercive methods. The report of the APSAC Task Force on Attachment Therapy, Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Problems (Chaffin et al 2006) describe it as follows: "The attachment therapy controversy has centred most broadly on the use of what is known as “holding therapy” (Welch, 1988) and coercive, restraining, or aversive procedures such as deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, punishments related to food and water intake, enforced eye contact, requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs, barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker, encouraging children to regress to infant status, reparenting, attachment parenting, or techniques designed to provoke cathartic emotional discharge. Variants of these treatments have carried various labels that appear to change frequently. They may be known as “rebirthing therapy,” “compression holding therapy,” “corrective attachment therapy,” “the Evergreen model,” “holding time,” or “rage-reduction therapy” (Cline, 1991; Lien, 2004; Levy & Orlans, 1998; Welch, 1988). Popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions.”
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe ‘Attachment therapy’ as a combination of ‘loose’ diagnosis of attachment disorders and a variety of treatments offered to desperate carers of troubled, maltreated children which often include variants of holding, eg holding time (Welch 1998), therapeutic holding (Howe and Fearnley 2003), rage reduction therapy (Cline 1991) and rebirthing. They also cite age regression as ‘key to the holding therapy approach.’ p265.
ACT states, "Attachment Therapy is a growing, underground movement for the 'treatment' of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers." In discussing Attachment Therapy they state, "there is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor." [37]
ACT further defines "Attachment Therapy" as, "Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation."[38] ACT’s site contains descriptions of the more extreme versions of these attachment therapies, including a link to the transcript of the ‘rebirthing’ process that lead to the death by suffocation of Candace Newmaker at the hands of her ‘therapists’. According to ACT "Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation." [39]
JonesRDtalk 17:26, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
I think that the above defines the term reasonably well and could be the entire article. What do other contributors think?JonesRDtalk 17:26, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
With all due respect Mr Jones, I don't think your proposal addresses what is wrong with the existing article. It prioritises ACT over and above valid credible verified and relevant sources like Chaffin et al, Speltz, Prior and Glaser. Why give ACT the lead in definitions and descriptions? The entire Chaffin report is about the subject matter of this article. It was compiled by all the big names in this field. Lets use that guys! Lets quote their definition, not ACT's. Better still, lets write the whole article without even mentioning ACT! ACT didn't invent this controversy about Attachment Therapy, attachment therapy or coercive attachment therapy. Chaffins definition is as good as it's going to get. Also, The article ought to include the theoretical base of these 'therapies' and point out the history and differences. I thought you liked those bits!Fainites 18:15, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
By the way, the italics thing was fun but it got a little messy. We all need to read all the versions and comments though to avoid repeating ourselves.Fainites 18:15, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
'LETS COMMENT IN ONLY ONE PLACE. THE FIRST VERSION IS THE BEST PLACE TO DO SO...ALL MY COMMENTS ARE THERE. WE CAN BEGIN LOOKING AT THIS SECTION BY SECTION. SEE MY FIRST STAB AT CONSENSUS BELOW'JonesRDtalk 18:35, 15 April 2007 (UTC) Another attempt.Fainites 12:34, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
"Attachment Therapy", ”attachment therapy,” holding therapy, rebirthing therapy, or ‘’corrective attachment therapy’’ is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder, which is itself an ambiguous term.DPetersontalk 15:39, 15 April 2007 (UTC) (see previous comment. There is nothing ambiguous about holding or rebirthing. It's the term 'attachment therapy that's ambiguous. Your version makes no sense factually or grammaticallyFainites 17:53, 15 April 2007 (UTC))
"Attachment Therapy", ”attachment therapy” or ‘’corrective attachment therapy’’ is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder. The term has little commonly agreed upon meaning in the professional literature and is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual. In a report for the ASPAC, Chaffin et al state 'controversies have arisen about a particular subset of attachment therapy techniques developed by a subset of attachment therapy practitioners, techniques that have been implicated in several child deaths and other harmful effects.' They attempt to define this subset of therapies (see below) and state that 'popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions.” Care should be taken to distinguish between the subset of 'therapies' covered by this article and more mainstream therapies, particularly as what is and was is not legitimately described as an 'attachment therapy' within the meaning of this article is controversial and advocacy groups and commentators such as ACT and Quackwatch include a broad range of therapies in their 'list' who's proponents would vehemently deny such a charge.
The 'treatments' often involve coercive and intrusive methods including variants of holding therapy or rebirthing or rage-reduction. According to Prior and Glaser (2006), ‘these therapies are not based on an accepted version of attachment theory and there is no objective evaluation of them’. Many professional bodies have codes of practice against these practices and some American States have outlawed rebirthing.
(phrases like 'offer some guidance' are POV and non-encyclopaedic. ACT are not offering guidance. They make a plain statement about what they sya AT is, which we can either quote or accurately summarise, and we can put in opposing views provided they're from a verified and credible source and not our own views.Fainites 18:26, 15 April 2007 (UTC))
There is no generally accepted definition of "Attachment Therapy", with or without capital letters. It is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual nor in generally recognized texts on treatment modalities, such as Bergin & Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change, nor is there any specific text that describes this "treatment" approach. Chaffin et al describe the polarization between the proponents of ‘Attachment Therapy’ and mainstream therapies stating ‘This polarization is compounded by the fact that attachment therapy has largely developed outside the mainstream scientific and professional community and flourishes within its own networks of attachment therapists, treatment centers, caseworkers, and parent support groups. Indeed, proponents and critics of the controversial attachment therapies appear to move in different worlds.’
The report of the APSAC Task Force on Attachment Therapy, Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Problems (Chaffin et al 2006), having said 'The terms attachment disorder, attachment problems, and attachment therapy, although increasingly used, have no clear, specific, or consensus definitions', attempt to describe this subset as follows; "The attachment therapy controversy has centred most broadly on the use of what is known as “holding therapy” (Welch, 1988) and coercive, restraining, or aversive procedures such as deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, punishments related to food and water intake, enforced eye contact, requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs, barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker, encouraging children to regress to infant status, reparenting, attachment parenting, or techniques designed to provoke cathartic emotional discharge. Variants of these treatments have carried various labels that appear to change frequently. They may be known as “rebirthing therapy,” “compression holding therapy,” “corrective attachment therapy,” “the Evergreen model,” “holding time,” or “rage-reduction therapy” (Cline, 1991; Lien, 2004; Levy & Orlans, 1998; Welch, 1988). Popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions.” (If this is a direct quote, we need a pg #DPetersontalk 15:43, 15 April 2007 (UTC)) (p83 Fainites 18:20, 15 April 2007 (UTC))
Speltz (2002) in a paper for the APSAC was this for APSAC or merely published in the journal Child Maltreatment? DPetersontalk 15:45, 15 April 2007 (UTC) (it's headed 'Speltz, Matthew L. (2002). Description, History, and Critique of Corrective Attachment Therapy. The APSAC Advisor, 14(3), 4-8 Reprinted by permission of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children' Fainites 17:56, 15 April 2007 (UTC)) describes ‘corrective attachment therapy’ as follows; ‘… the holding therapies included in “corrective” attachment therapy do not address safety needs. They differ in that a therapist or parent initiates the holding process for the purpose of provoking strong, negative emotions in the child (e.g., fear, anger), and the child’s release is typically contingent upon his or her compliance with the therapist’s clinical agenda.
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe ‘Attachment therapy’ as a combination of ‘loose’ diagnosis of attachment disorders and a variety of treatments offered to desperate carers of troubled, maltreated children which often include variants of holding, eg holding time (Welch 1998), therapeutic holding (Howe and Fearnley 2003), rage reduction therapy (Cline 1991) and rebirthing. They also cite age regression as ‘key to the holding therapy approach.’ p265.
The campaigning group, Advocacy group```` Advocates for Children in Therapy define, "Attachment Therapy (AT)..’ as ‘…a growing, underground movement for the treatment of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers. AT practitioners allege that the root cause of the children’s misbehavior is a failure to 'attach' to their caregivers. The purported correction by AT is — literally — to force the children into loving (attaching to) their parents ...there is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor." [[40]
You'v not included all the comments and suggestions from above. DPetersontalk 15:51, 15 April 2007 (UTC) I don't agree with them allFainites 18:01, 15 April 2007 (UTC))
In a paper for the APSAC by Speltz (2002) the roots of ‘Attachment Therapy’ are traced to Robert Zaslow in the 1970’s. Zaslow attempted to force attachment in those suffering from autism by creating pain and rage whilst enforcing eye contact. He believed that holding someone against their will would lead to a breakdown in their defence mechanism’s making them more receptive to others. Speltz point’s out that these ideas have been dispelled by research into autism and that, conversely, techniques based on behavioural principles have proved effective.
Speltz cites Martha Welch and ‘holding time’ (1984 and 1989) as the next significant development. Mothers were instructed to hold their defiant child, provoking anger and rage, until such time as the child ceased to resist at which point a bonding process was believed to begin. Similar techniques were subsequently promoted by Foster Cline and associates at the Attachment Centre at Evergreen, Inc. (now renamed the Institute For Attachment and Child Development) and duplicated elsewhere in other clinics.
According to Prior and Glaser (2006) ‘there is no empirical evidence to support Zaslows theory. The concept of suppressed rage has, nevertheless, continued to be a central focus explaining the children’s behaviour (Cline 1991)’.
Chaffin et al describe the underlying principles as follows; “In contrast to traditional attachment theory, the theory of attachment described by controversial attachment therapies is that young children who experience adversity (including maltreatment, loss, separations, adoption, frequent changes in child care, colic or even frequent ear infections) become enraged at a very deep and primitive level. As a result, these children are conjectured to lack an ability to attach or to be genuinely affectionate to others. Suppressed or unconscious rage is theorized to prevent the child from forming bonds with caregivers and leads to behavior problems when the rage erupts into unchecked aggression. The children are described as failing to develop a conscience and as not trusting others. They are said to seek control rather than closeness, resist the authority of caregivers, and engage in endless power struggles. From this perspective, children described as having attachment problems are seen as highly manipulative in their social relations and actively trying to avoid true attachments while simultaneously striving to control adults and others around them through manipulation and superficial sociability. Children described as having attachment problems are alleged by proponents of the controversial therapies to be at risk for becoming psychopaths who will go on to engage in very serious delinquent, criminal, and antisocial behaviors if left untreated’.
Prior and Glaser cite the one published study which ‘purports to be an evaluation of holding therapy’ by Myeroff et al (1999). The methodology of this study is heavily criticised. This study covers the ‘across the lap’ type holding therapy, described as ‘not restraint’ by Howe and Fearnley (2003) but ‘being held whilst unable to gain release.’ According to Prior and Glaser, regression is key to the holding therapy approach, but was explicitly rejected by Bowlby (1988) who stated that ‘a theory of developmental pathways should replace theories that invoke specific phases of development in which it is held a person may become fixated and/or to which he may regress.’ p263
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe ‘two discourses’ on attachment disorder. One science based, found in academic journals and books with careful reference to theory, international classifications and evidence. They list Bowlby, Ainsworth, Tizard, Hodges, Chisholm, O’Connor and Zeanah and colleagues as respected attachment theorists and researchers in the field. The other discourse is found in clinical practice, non-academic literature and on the Internet where claims are made which have no basis in attachment theory and for which there is no empirical evidence. In particular unfounded claims are made as to efficacy of ‘treatments’.
Attachment disorders are classified in DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10. DSM describes Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood, divided into two subtypes, Inhibited Type and Disinhibited Type. The ICD classification describes two types, Reactive Attachment Disorder of Childhood and Disinhibited Attachment Disorder of Childhood. Both classifications are under constant discussion and both warn against automatic diagnosis based on abuse or neglect. Many ‘symptoms’ are present in a variety of other more common and more easily treatable disorders.
DSM and ICD are limited and some researchers in the field of attachment such as Zeannah have proposed alternative diagnostic criteria to describe broader disorders of attachment but the exact parameters are not yet established.
Chaffin et al and Prior and Glaser describe the proliferation of alternative ‘lists’ and diagnoses, particularly on the Internet, by proponents of Attachment Therapies that do not accord with either DSM or ICD classifications and which are partly based on the unsubstantiated views of Zaslow and Menta (1975) and Cline (1991). Neither do these lists accord with alternative diagnostic criteria as proposed above. According to Chaffin et al 'These types of lists are so nonspecific that high rates of false-positive diagnoses are virtually certain.' Prior and Glaser state that many of the behaviors in the lists are likely to be the consequences of neglect and abuse rather than located within the attachment paradigm.
According to Chaffin et al 'although focused primarily on specific attachment therapy techniques, the controversy also extends to the theories, diagnoses, diagnostic practices, beliefs, and social group norms supporting these techniques, and to the patient recruitment and advertising practices used by their proponents. The controversy deepened after the death of 10-year-old Candace Newmaker during a therapy session in 2000 (Crowder & Lowe, 2000), and a number of child deaths occurring at the hands of parents who claim that they acted on attachment therapists’ instructions (Warner, 2003). Criminal charges have been brought against some attachment therapists and against parents who claimed to be using what is known as attachment parenting.'
'Traditional attachment theory holds that caregiver qualities such as environmental stability, parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to children’s physical and emotional needs, consistency, and a safe and predictable environment support the development of healthy attachment. From this perspective, improving these positive caretaker and environmental qualities is the key to improving attachment. From the traditional attachment theory viewpoint, therapy for children who are maltreated and described as having attachment problems emphasizes providing a stable environment and taking a calm, sensitive, nonintrusive, nonthreatening, patient, predictable, and nurturing approach toward children (Haugaard, 2004a; Nichols, Lacher,&May, 2004).' (Chaffin et al p77).
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe evidence based treatments, all of which revolve around enhancing caregiver sensitivity, or change of caregiver if that is not possible. See comments in prev version....listing names and using very old date (Welch 1998, for example) may not reflect current practice. I suggest leaving all that out unless you can verify that this is the current practice eight or ten years later!!!!!DPetersontalk 15:56, 15 April 2007 (UTC) Prior and Glaser was first published August 2006. Chaffin is also 2006. These are up-to date sources about the provenance, sourcers and practices of this type of therapy. That's what they're about!Fainites 18:03, 15 April 2007 (UTC))
The focus of non-evidence based Attachment Therapies is somewhat different. According to Prior and Glaser ‘These include work directed at parents interactions with the children such as behaviour management, life story work and work on the meanings of the child’s experience, and some approaches are directed at the child and may or may not include the child’s primary carer. Attachment therapy often however, also includes some other interventions including a number of variants of holding, eg holding time (Welch 1998) and therapeutic holding (Howe and Fearnley) as well as others such as rage-reduction therapy (Cline 1991) and rebirthing.’ They also refer to the ‘Handbook of Attachment Interventions’ (Levy 2000), Levy and Orlans and the ‘Holding Nurturing Process.’
According to O’Connor and Zeanah (2003 p235) "The holding approach would be viewed as intrusive and therefore non-sensitive and counter therapeutic".
Chaffin et al (2006) describe how the conceptual focus of these treatments is the childs individual internal pathology and past caregivers rather than current parent-child relationships or current environment, to the extent that if the child is well behaved outside the home this is seen as manipulative. It was noted that this perspective has its attractions because it relieves the caregivers of responsibility to change aspects of their own behavior and aspirations. Proponents of the controversial therapies emphasize the child’s resistance to attachment and the need to break down the child’s resistance (Institute for Attachment and Child Development, n.d.).'
Speltz describes a typical treatment taken from a clinic's material as follows; ‘Like Welsh (1984, 1989),' the clinic 'induces rage by physically restraining the child and forcing eye contact with the therapist (the child must lie across the laps of two therapists, looking up at one of them). In a workshop handout prepared by two therapists ...... the following sequence of events is described: (1) therapist “forces control” by holding (which produces child “rage”); (2) rage leads to child “capitulation” to the therapist, as indicated by the child breaking down emotionally (“sobbing”); (3) the therapist takes advantage of the child’s capitulation by showing nurturance and warmth; (4) this new trust allows the child to accept “control” by the therapist and evenutally the parent. According to the ...... treatment protocol, if the child “shuts down” (i.e., refuses to comply), he or she may be threatened with detainment for the day at the clinic or forced placement in a temporary foster home; this is explained to the child as a consequence of not choosing to be a “family boy or girl.” If the child is actually placed in foster care, the child is then required to “earn the way back to therapy” and a chance to resume living with the adoptive family.
Often parents are required to follow programmes of treatment at home, for example, obedience-training techniques such as "strong sitting" (frequent periods of required silence and immobility) and withholding or limiting food (Thomas, 2001). Also requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs and barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker.
ACT’s site contains descriptions of the more extreme versions of these attachment therapies, including a link to the transcript of the ‘rebirthing’ process that lead to the death by suffocation of Candace Newmaker at the hands of her ‘therapists’. According to ACT "Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation." [41]
It is difficult to ascertain the prevalence of these therapies but they are sufficiently prevalent to have prompted reactions as outlined by Chaffin et al as follows;
‘The practice of some forms of these treatments has resulted in professional licensure sanctions against some leading proponents of the controversial attachment therapies. There have been cases of successful criminal prosecution and incarceration of therapists or parents using controversial attachment therapy techniques and state legislation to ban particular therapies. Position statements against using coercion or restraint as a treatment were issued by mainstream professional societies (American Psychiatric Association, 2002) and by a professional organization focusing on attachment and attachment therapy (Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children [ATTACh], 2001). Despite these and other strong cautions from professional organizations, the controversial treatments and their associated concepts and foundational principles appear to be continuing among networks of attachment therapists, attachment therapy centers, caseworkers, and adoptive or foster parents (Hage, n.d.-a; Keck, n.d.)’.
A particular concern of both Chaffin et al and Prior and Glaser is the use of the Internet to advertise these therapies and the use of unscientific and 'wildly inclusive' lists of 'symptoms' (Prior and Glaser). According to Chaffin et al 'These types of lists are so nonspecific that high rates of false-positive diagnoses are virtually certain. Posting these types of lists on Web sites that also serve as marketing tools may lead many parents or others to conclude inaccurately that their children have attachment disorders.' Many of the behaviors in the lists are likely to be the consequences of neglect and abuse rather than located within the attachment paradigm. Descriptions of children are frequently highly perjorative and 'demonising'. According to Chaffin et al 'Proponents of controversial attachment therapies commonly assert that their therapies, and their therapies alone, are effective for children with attachment disorders and that more traditional treatments are either ineffective or harmful’. They also express concern over claims by therapies to be 'evidence based' or indeed the 'only' evidence based therapy when the Task Force found no credible evidence base for any such therapy so advertised.
The report of Chaffin et al, which contains proposed guidelines for therapies, was endorsed by was endorsed by the American Psychological Association’s Division 37 and the Division 37 Section on Child Maltreatment.
Prior and Glaser (2006) state ‘The practice of holding therapy is not confined to the USA.’ And give an example of a center in the UK practising ‘therapeutic holding’ of the 'across the lap' variety.
The advocacy group ACT claim "Attachment Therapy is a growing, underground movement for the 'treatment' of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers."
There are no reliable statistics on how many professionals actually practice "Attachment Therapy" as described in this article. However the practices it often involves are now prohibited by a large number of professional organizations such as the following: American Psychological Association30, National Association of Social Workers31, American Professional society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) 32, Association for the Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrry ("Practice Parameter for the Assessment of Children and Adolescent with Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy and Early Childhood" in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, vol 44, Nov 2005 and at 33), and the American Psychiatric Association. 34. Members of those organizations are prohibited from using methods and techniques proscribed by those organizations codes of ethics and practice parameters. Violations of those standards would result in expulsion of the organization. Furthermore, several states have outlawed "rebirthing," and anyone using such methods would be guilty of malpractice.
Fainites 12:34, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
Becker-Weidman, A., & Shell, D., (2005) Creating Capacity for Attachment. Oklahoma City, OK: Wood 'N' Barnes.
Becker-Weidman (2006a) Treatment for Children with Trauma-Attachment Disorders: Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. 23(2), April 2006
Becker-Weidman, A., (2006b) Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy: a multi year follow-up. in Sturt, S., (ed) New Developments in Child Abuse Research. NY: Nova
Becker-Weidman, A., (2006c) “Treatment For Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder: Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy,” Child and Adolescent Mental Health Published article online: 21-Nov-2006 doi: 10.1111/j.1475-3588.2006.00428.x.[[42]]
Berliner, L. (2002).Why caregivers turn to "attachment therapy" and what we can do that is better. APSAC Advisor, 14(4), 8-10.
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment. New York: Basic.
Chaffin M, Hanson R, Saunders BE, Nichols T, Barnett D, Zeanah C, Berliner L, Egeland B, Newman E, Lyon T, LeTourneau E, Miller-Perrin C. Report of the APSAC task force on attachment therapy, reactive attachment disorder, and attachment problems. Child Maltreat. 2006 Feb;11(1):76-89. PMID 16382093
Cline, F. (1994). Hope for high risk and rage-filled children. Evergreen, CO: EC Publications.
Hughes, D., (2003). Psychotherapeutic interventions for the spectrum of attachment disorders and intrafamilial trauma. Attachment and Human Development 5-3, 271-279.
Hughes, D. (2004). An attachment-based treatment of maltreated children and young people. Attachment & Human Development, 3, 263–278.
Krenner, M. (1999). Ein Erklaerungsmodell zur "Festhaltetherapie" nach Jirina Prekop. Retrieved Oct. 25, 2000, from http://wwwalt.uni-wuerzburg.de/gbpaed/mixed/work/mkrenner1.html.
Levy, T.M., Ed. (2000). Handbook of attachment interventions. San diego: Academic.
Lieberman, A., (2003). The treatment of attachment disorder in infancy and early childhood. Attachment and Human Development 5-3, 279-283.
Marvin, R., & Whelan, W., (2003) Disordered attachment: toward evidence-based clinical practice. Attachment and Human Development 5-3, 284-299.
O'Connor, C., & Zeanah, C., Attachment disorder: assessment strategies and treatment approaches, Attachment and Human Development 5, 223-244.
Schechter, D.S. (2003). Intergenerational communication of maternal violent trauma: Understanding the interplay of reflective functioning and posttraumatic psychopathology. In S.W. Coates, J.L. Rosenthal, & D.S. Schechter (Eds.), September 11: Trauma and Human Bonds. New York, NY: The Analytic Press, pp. 115-143.
Thomas, N. (2001). Parenting children with attachment disorders. In T.M. Levy (Ed.), Handbook of attachment interventions. San Diego, CA: Academic.
Verny, T., & Kelly, J. (1981). The secret life of the unborn child. New York: Dell.
Welch, M.G. (1989) Holding time. New York:Fireside.
Welch, M.G., Northrup, R.S., Welch-Horan, T.B., Ludwig, R.J., Austin, C.L., & Jacobson, J.S.(2006). Outcomes of prolonged parent-child embrace therapy among 102 children with behavioral disorders. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 12, 3-12.
Zaslow, R., & Menta, M. (1975) The psychology of the Z-process: Attachment and activity. San Jose, CA: San Jose University Press.
Zeanah, C., (1993) Infant Mental Health. NY: Guilford. Added also see and reference section so that other editors can easily see material to be in article.
A lot of this is very good. However, it is difficult to read it since it does not address all the concerns raised in the previous version. I suggest we stick with that one since it has all the relevant comments until consensus is reached. Maybe go section by section and create a new section below this for the consensus sections. I'd suggest beginning at the beginning.DPetersontalk 16:02, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
This page is getting too long. I'd suggest deleting the "new" new version above, and one of the two DPeterson versions and then working on the last section in this page to discuss each paragraph.JonesRDtalk 19:06, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
I have given you my citations. I just don't keep repeating them on the talkpage.Fainites 22:24, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
"Attachment Therapy", ”attachment therapy” "holding therapy," "rebirthing therapy," or "corrective attachment therapy" is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder which is itself an ambiguous term. However, because the term has no common meaning, or generally accepted meaning, in the professional community, its actual definition is unclear. The term is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual. A number of advocacy groups, such as Advocates for Children in Therapy and Quackwatch have undertaken to label a large number of treatments for children with disorders of attachment as "Attachment Therapy" and attempt to discredit those therapies. The treatments often involve coercive and intrusive methods including variants of holding therapy or rebirthing or rage-reduction. According to Prior and Glaser (2006), ‘these therapies are not based on an accepted version of attachment theory and there is no objective evaluation of them’. Many professional bodies and some American States have outlawed rebirthing.
In a report for the ASPAC, Chaffin et al state 'controversies have arisen about a particular subset of attachment therapy techniques developed by a subset of attachment therapy practitioners, techniques that have been implicated in several child deaths and other harmful effects.' They attempt to define this subset of therapies (see below) and state that 'popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions.” (We need a page number if this is an acutal direct quoteJonesRDtalk 18:50, 15 April 2007 (UTC))
Care should be taken to distinguish between the subset of 'therapies' covered by this article and more mainstream therapies, particularly as what is and was is not legitimately described as an 'attachment therapy' within the meaning of this article is controversial and advocacy groups and commentators such as ACT and Quackwatch include a broad range of therapies in their 'list' who's proponents would vehemently deny such a charge.
I think this captures the essential elements of what is being proposed.JonesRDtalk 18:50, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
. I like the term "large number." I think it accurately caputures ACT's view. In addition not all those on their list are Z-therapies or related to Zaslow. I'd vote to keep the suggestion of "large number." DPetersontalk 20:13, 15 April 2007 (UTC)"Attachment Therapy", (also know as ”attachment therapy” "holding therapy," "rebirthing therapy," or "corrective attachment therapy") is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder which is itself an ambiguous term.
(Use this:
"Attachment Therapy", (also known as attachment therapy, holding therapy, rebirthing therapy, or corrective attachment therapy) is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder which is itself an ambiguous term. However, because the term has no common meaning, or generally accepted meaning, in the professional community, its actual definition is unclear. The term is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual.
)DPetersontalk 21:26, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
The treatments often involve coercive and intrusive methods including variants of holding therapy or rebirthing or rage-reduction. According to Prior and Glaser (2006), ‘these therapies are not based on an accepted version of attachment theory and there is no objective evaluation of them’. Many professional bodies and some American States have outlawed rebirthing. In a report for the ASPAC, Chaffin et al state 'controversies have arisen about a particular subset of attachment therapy techniques developed by a subset of attachment therapy practitioners, techniques that have been implicated in several child deaths and other harmful effects.' They attempt to define this subset of therapies (see below) and state that 'popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions.” Care should be taken to distinguish between the subset of 'therapies' covered by this article and more mainstream therapies, particularly as what is and was is not legitimately described as an 'attachment therapy' within the meaning of this article is controversial and advocacy groups and commentators such as ACT and Quackwatch have undertaken to label a large number of therapies as 'Attachment Therapy' to discredit them (end here...or, instead state, "while the proponents of some of these approaches have presented evidence that the approaches are not corcive and do not use prohibited methods DPetersontalk 21:23, 15 April 2007 (UTC)) when their proponents deny using coercive or prohibited methods.
"Attachment Therapy", (also known as attachment therapy, holding therapy, rebirthing therapy, or corrective attachment therapy) is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder which is itself an ambiguous term. However, because the term has no common meaning, or generally accepted meaning, in the professional community, its actual definition is unclear. The term is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual. A number of advocacy groups, such as Advocates for Children in Therapy and Quackwatch have undertaken to label a large number of treatments for children with disorders of attachment as "Attachment Therapy" and attempt to discredit those therapies. The treatments often involve coercive and intrusive methods including variants of holding therapy or rebirthing or rage-reduction. According to Prior and Glaser (2006), ‘these therapies are not based on an accepted version of attachment theory and there is no objective evaluation of them’. Many professional bodies and some American States have outlawed rebirthing.
In a report for the ASPAC, Chaffin et al state 'controversies have arisen about a particular subset of attachment therapy techniques developed by a subset of attachment therapy practitioners, techniques that have been implicated in several child deaths and other harmful effects.' They attempt to define this subset of therapies (see below) and state that 'popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions.” (We need a page number if this is an acutal direct quoteJonesRDtalk 18:50, 15 April 2007 (UTC))
Care should be taken to distinguish between the subset of 'therapies' covered by this article and more mainstream therapies, particularly as what is and what is not described as an 'Attachment Therapy' within the meaning of this article is controversial and advocacy groups such as ACT and Quackwatch include a broadly defined range of therapies in their description of Attachment Therapy, some of which are not coercive or intrusive as described in this article. DPetersontalk 21:20, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
It's fine apart from the Quackwatch ACT bit. We're saying the same thing twice in two paragraphs in what is meant to be a brief descriptive opening which is stylistically horrible. I invented the second form of words to be used instead of the first, not as well as. It sounds wierd to say the same thing twice in different words. The first bit doesn't fit at all where it is in the opening paragraph and is merely confusing. It gives the impression that the word 'treatments' in the following sentence refers to the 'treatments' described by ACT which I don't think is the effect you meant to achieve but the opposite. The opening paragraph should be a brief description of it's subject. There should be no more than one brief description of a main controversy. I don't mind if you take out the first sentence or amalgamate it with the second or replace the second but as an example of encyclopaedic English we can't leave it as it is.Fainites 21:41, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
I removed the tag because in order to put the tag on certain criteria must be met: "Drive-by tagging is not permitted. The editor who adds the tag must address the issues on the talk page, pointing to specific issues that are actionable within the content policies, namely Wikipedia:Neutral point of view, Wikipedia:Attribution, and Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons. Simply being of the opinion that a page is not neutral is not sufficient to justify the addition of the tag. Tags should be added as a last resort." "The accuracy of an article may be a cause for concern if: it contains a lot of unlikely information, without providing references." There are other criteria too. The relevant criteria can be found at WP:NPOVD and WP:AD Once those are met, then the tag can be added. In addition, there is the tag at the top of this page. DPetersontalk 23:04, 16 April 2007 (UTC)
This is not a drive by tagging. I am an existing editor. I have read the entire talkpage of this and related articles. I have made it clear that I dispute the neutrality of this article which has been distorted by a dispute between two polarised parties. I have attempted to edit by consensus but some of the main areas of disputed neutrality appearing are
I could in fact carry on in this vein for some time, but hopefully this is sufficient to justify a tag. A tag is not an attack on anybody. It is a way of alerting other editors. We need fresh editors to help on this article. Adding a tag is advised as a method of attracting new editors. You do not own this article. I am replacing the tag.Fainites 08:55, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
The article says "The American Professional Society on Abuse of children (APSAC) (Chaffin et al.,2006, PMID 16382093) does not use the term 'Attachment Therapy'", but then links to an abstract that uses the term. Using the citation in this way will probably confuse an ordinary reader. The article goes on to say that they use the term 'attachment therapy' without capitals. This wins the "ridiculously trivial distinction" award. Is there a difference between the definitions of 'Attachment Therapy' and 'attachment therapy'? shotwell 03:06, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
It's not idle chatter. It's been a major part of the talkpage from the outset that some editors have pushed the POV that AT with capitals is really just an ACT thing, and they can't be trusted, and that Chaffin et al are talking about something different. If we no longer have to waste our time with that then hooray! But we do need to be clear. Fainites 18:30, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
"Attachment Therapy", (also known as attachment therapy, holding therapy, rebirthing therapy, or corrective attachment therapy) is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder which is itself an ambiguous term. However, because the term has no common meaning, or generally accepted meaning, in the professional community, its actual definition is unclear. The term is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual. A number of advocacy groups, such as Advocates for Children in Therapy and Quackwatch have undertaken to label a large number of treatments for children with disorders of attachment as "Attachment Therapy" and attempt to discredit those therapies.[[43]]. The treatments often involve coercive and intrusive methods including variants of holding therapy or rebirthing or rage-reduction. According to Prior and Glaser (2006), ‘these therapies are not based on an accepted version of attachment theory and there is no objective evaluation of them’. Many professional bodies and some American States have outlawed rebirthing.
In a report for the ASPAC, Chaffin et al state 'controversies have arisen about a particular subset of attachment therapy techniques developed by a subset of attachment therapy practitioners, techniques that have been implicated in several child deaths and other harmful effects.' They attempt to define this subset of therapies (see below) and state that 'popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions.” . p77(We need a page number if this is an acutal direct quoteJonesRDtalk 18:50, 15 April 2007 (UTC))
Care should be taken to distinguish between the subset of 'therapies' covered by this article and more mainstream therapies, particularly as what is and what is not described as an 'Attachment Therapy' within the meaning of this article is controversial and advocacy groups such as ACT and Quackwatch include a broadly defined range of therapies in their description of Attachment Therapy, some of which are not coercive or intrusive as described in this article.
(I think this is ready now. Let's get some comments on this over the next week or two and then we can move on to the next sectionDPetersontalk 12:35, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
Let's see what various editors think about this paragraphy and see if we have a consensus, or at least a broad and large group agreeing, even if not all agree. DPetersontalk 12:50, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
6. Use it This is ok with me as written. SamDavidson 14:25, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
7. Fine with me' This section is ok. JohnsonRon 20:46, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
8. Good as writtenJonesRDtalk 22:53, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
There is no generally accepted definition of "Attachment Therapy". It is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual nor in generally recognized texts on treatment modalities, such as Bergin & Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change. There is not any specific text that describes this "treatment" approach. Chaffin et al (2006) describe the polarization between the proponents of ‘Attachment Therapy’ and mainstream therapies stating, "This polarization is compounded by the fact that attachment therapy has largely developed outside the mainstream scientific and professional community and flourishes within its own networks of attachment therapists, treatment centers, caseworkers, and parent support groups. Indeed, proponents and critics of the controversial attachment therapies appear to move in different worlds." p85 (We need a page number hereRalphLendertalk 20:04, 17 April 2007 (UTC))
The report of the APSAC Task Force on Attachment Therapy, Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Problems (Chaffin et al 2006), having said "The terms attachment disorder, attachment problems, and attachment therapy, although increasingly used, have no clear, specific, or consensus definitions", (p 83) (Need page #DPetersontalk 21:58, 17 April 2007 (UTC)) it's got oneFainites 22:00, 17 April 2007 (UTC) (page numbers go after each discrete quoteDPetersontalk 22:07, 17 April 2007 (UTC)) attempt to describe this subset as follows: "The attachment therapy controversy has centred most broadly on the use of what is known as “holding therapy” (Welch, 1988) and coercive, restraining, or aversive procedures such as deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, punishments related to food and water intake, enforced eye contact, requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs, barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker, encouraging children to regress to infant status, reparenting, attachment parenting, or techniques designed to provoke cathartic emotional discharge. Variants of these treatments have carried various labels that appear to change frequently. They may be known as “rebirthing therapy,” “compression holding therapy,” “corrective attachment therapy,” “the Evergreen model,” “holding time,” or “rage-reduction therapy” (Cline, 1991; Lien, 2004; Levy & Orlans, 1998; Welch, 1988). Popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions." p83
Speltz (2002) in a paper published by the APSAC (not for APBSAC, but in one of it's pubs RalphLendertalk 20:04, 17 April 2007 (UTC)) (are you sure? It says ASPAC advisor on the paper or is that the name of their pub? Fainites 21:05, 17 April 2007 (UTC)) (The APSAC Advisor is a newsletter of that organization...not peer reviewed.DPetersontalk 22:00, 17 April 2007 (UTC)) it looks like the name of the pub.On what basis do you say it's not peer reviewed?Fainites 22:07, 17 April 2007 (UTC) (changed itFainites 23:04, 18 April 2007 (UTC)) describes ‘corrective attachment therapy’ as follows: "… the holding therapies included in “corrective” attachment therapy do not address safety needs. They differ in that a therapist or parent initiates the holding process for the purpose of provoking strong, negative emotions in the child (e.g., fear, anger), and the child’s release is typically contingent upon his or her compliance with the therapist’s clinical agenda." p4.(if a quote need pg num.RalphLendertalk 20:04, 17 April 2007 (UTC))
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe ‘Attachment therapy’ as a variety of treatments offered to desperate carers of troubled, maltreated children which often include variants of holding, eg holding time (Welch 1998), therapeutic holding (Howe and Fearnley 2003), rage reduction therapy (Cline 1991) and rebirthing. They state, (If this is a direct quote, quotes " are needed and page number listed...DPetersontalk 22:07, 17 April 2007 (UTC)) "There are many ways in which holding therapy/attachment therapy contradicts Bowlby's attachment theory, not least attachment theory's fundamental and evidence-based statement that security is promoted by sensitivity. Moreover, Bowlby (1988)explicitly rejected the notion of regression, which is key to the holding therapy approach: 'present knowledge of infant and child development requires that a theory of developmental pathways should replace theories that invoke specific phases of development in which it is held a person may become fixated and/or to which he may regress." p265. (if a direct quote...need a page number...it's unclear here what are quotes and what are your statements...try using " "RalphLendertalk 20:04, 17 April 2007 (UTC))
(This seems out of place...either delete or put with Chaffin material maybe.DPetersontalk 22:07, 17 April 2007 (UTC))Chaffin et al also cite 'encouraging children to regress to infant status'as a feature of these therapies at p83 and include 'age regression' as a technique to avoid in their guidelines at p86.(page # and direct quoteRalphLendertalk 20:04, 17 April 2007 (UTC)) (it goes OK now with the expanded Glaser bitFainites 23:08, 18 April 2007 (UTC))
The advocacy group Advocates for Children in Therapy define, "Attachment Therapy (AT).. as …a growing, underground movement for the treatment of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers. AT practitioners allege that the root cause of the children’s misbehavior is a failure to 'attach' to their caregivers. The purported correction by AT is — literally — to force the children into loving (attaching to) their parents ...there is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor." [[44] They state "Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation." [45] The group identify rebirthing as a form of "attachment therapy". Fainites 23:08, 18 April 2007 (UTC) The group also uses the terms "rebirthing" and "holding therapy" as terms for "Attachment Therapy."[[46]] (Their book uses the terms frequentlyDPetersontalk 11:51, 18 April 2007 (UTC)) [[47]] (now proposed this be replaced by "The group identify rebirthing as a form of attachment therapy". Fainites 20:04, 18 April 2007 (UTC))
I've put in the bits about it not being defined in various manuals from your version. I've also put in the full quote from Glaser and Prior about age regression that you requested and added that Chaffin includes it in his list. On p83 he calls it 'encouraging children to regress to infant status'. On p86 in his 'guidelines' he just calls it 'age regression'. ACT include it in their definition as well somewhere I think. If you want that too I'll look it up. The polarization bit from Chaffin of course explains why there's nothing in professional manuals about this thing. Fainites 18:42, 17 April 2007 (UTC)
Editors: is the second section acceptable for inclusion now? Please limit your comments to yes or no and one or two lines. Longer comments can go above. DPetersontalk 12:24, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
3. No Unless the inaccurate and unecessary last phrase is removed or replaced by an accurate and sourced quotation. I would accept "ACT identify rebirthing as a form of AT". Do I take it that you all agree to the bit on regressing to infancy remains in ? Fainites 17:07, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
4. 'YES' This section is fine to go in as written. SamDavidson 14:26, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
5. FINE with the line as DP has it. I read the ACT material and their website as using the various terms there, including rebirthing and holding therapy as synonymous with AT. JohnsonRon 20:48, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
6. Yes I agree the section is ok as written (with the line that rebirthing/holding therapy/Attachment Therapy are synonymous. For all the reasons stated above, I won't repeat arguments already presented.JonesRDtalk 22:55, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
Speltz (2002) states that the roots of "Attachment Therapy" are traced to Robert Zaslow in the 1970’s. Zaslow attempted to force attachment in those suffering from autism by creating pain and rage whilst enforcing eye contact. He believed that holding someone against their will would lead to a breakdown in their defence mechanism’s making them more receptive to others. Speltz point’s out that these ideas have been dispelled by research into autism and that, conversely, techniques based on behavioural principles have proved effective.
('DELETE THIS PARAGRAPH' JohnsonRon 20:54, 19 April 2007 (UTC)) Speltz cites (provide a direct quote instead of paraphrasingDPetersontalk 23:32, 18 April 2007 (UTC)) (actually theres nothing wrong with a paraphrase if it's accurate and sourced. Wiki deprecates articles that are long lists of quotes. I'll post the full quote below so you can see if you think its a fair paraphrase.Fainites 16:23, 19 April 2007 (UTC) Martha Welch and "holding time" (1984 and 1989) as the next significant development. Mothers were instructed to hold their defiant child, provoking anger and rage, until such time as the child ceased to resist at which point a bonding process was believed to begin. Similar techniques were subsequently promoted by Foster Cline and associates at the Attachment Centre at Evergreen, Inc. and duplicated elsewhere in other clinics. (you need a citation for this last sentance if you name names and a specific quoteDPetersontalk 23:32, 18 April 2007 (UTC)) OK the specific quote is "Foster Cline (1991) and associates at the Attachment Center at Evergreen, Inc. (Evergreen, Colorado) began to promote the use of the same or similar holding techniques with adopted, maltreated children who were said to have an attachment disorder (not to be confused with DSM-IV’s reactive attachment disorder)." Is this OK? Fainites 16:23, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
According to Prior and Glaser (2006) "there is no empirical evidence to support Zaslows theory. The concept of suppressed rage has, nevertheless, continued to be a central focus explaining the children’s behaviour (Cline 1991)." p263. (page numberDPetersontalk 23:32, 18 April 2007 (UTC))
Chaffin et al describe the underlying principles of Attachment Therapy as follows; “In contrast to traditional attachment theory, the theory of attachment described by controversial attachment therapies is that young children who experience adversity (including maltreatment, loss, separations, adoption, frequent changes in child care, colic or even frequent ear infections) become enraged at a very deep and primitive level. As a result, these children are conjectured to lack an ability to attach or to be genuinely affectionate to others. Suppressed or unconscious rage is theorized to prevent the child from forming bonds with caregivers and leads to behavior problems when the rage erupts into unchecked aggression. The children are described as failing to develop a conscience and as not trusting others. They are said to seek control rather than closeness, resist the authority of caregivers, and engage in endless power struggles. From this perspective, children described as having attachment problems are seen as highly manipulative in their social relations and actively trying to avoid true attachments while simultaneously striving to control adults and others around them through manipulation and superficial sociability. Children described as having attachment problems are alleged by proponents of the controversial therapies to be at risk for becoming psychopaths who will go on to engage in very serious delinquent, criminal, and antisocial behaviors if left untreated." p 78 page #DPetersontalk 23:32, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
Prior and Glaser cite the one published study which "purports to be an evaluation of holding therapy" by Myeroff et al (1999). The methodology of this study is heavily criticized. (please do not remove other peoples talk page posts DPeterson. This is the third time I have had to ask you. If you disagree with this line, don't just silently remove it. Say you disagree and why and we'll discuss it below. Now we don't know whether the other editors are agreeing to my post or my post as altered by you.Fainites)This study covers the "across the lap" type holding therapy, described as "not restraint" by Howe and Fearnley (2003) but "being held whilst unable to gain release."
Prior and Glaser also state, "There are many ways in which holding therapy/attachment therapy contradicts Bowlby's attachment theory, not least attachment theory's fundamental and evidence-based statement that security is promoted by sensitivity. Moreover, Bowlby (1988)explicitly rejected the notion of regression, which is key to the holding therapy approach: "present knowledge of infant and child development requires that a theory of developmental pathways should replace theories that invoke specific phases of development in which it is held a person may become fixated and/or to which he may regress." " p265. Chaffin et al also cite "encouraging children to regress to infant status" as a feature of these therapies (p83) and include "age regression" as a technique to avoid in their guidelines at p86. Fainites 22:54, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
I think this covers all the comments made. I've put the full 'age regression' bit in here aswell. I don't mind if it goes in here in 'underlying principles' or in 'definition'. It's arguably both but there's no point repeating ourselves unless necessary for the sake of clarity.Fainites 22:57, 18 April 2007 (UTC)
7. Yes It is fine with the Meyeroff material. I do think the paragraph under dispute in the history section could be deleted. I can see how the material could be misinterpreted, so let's just leave it out...It doesn't add much to an article whose purpose is to define attachment therapy. JonesRDtalk 22:57, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
8. Yes The disputed paragraph in the history section is best left out. The Meyeroff stuff is fine. MarkWood 17:47, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
'9.' 'Yes' The material is good to go with the Myeroff material and it's fine to leave out the disputed paragraph so we can move this along. That paragraph really doesn't add anything that is essential and vital to this article. RalphLendertalk 16:18, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
Re Myeroff. This is the only 'holding therapy' study. The Prior/Glaser full quote is as follows;
A similar criticism is made by Chaffin et al:
I'm quite happy to reduce all this to an accurate paraphrase, but removing it altogether creates a misleading impression of why Prior and Glaser cited this study.Fainites 16:16, 19 April 2007 (UTC)
Re martha welch. DP has asked for the full quote from Speltz. Here it is:
If you don't like a paraphrase, (and nobody else seems willing to attempt one), I would propose a direct quote from Speltz (published in the ASPAC publication). :"A decade later, Martha Welsh (1984, 1989) described a technique for children with attachment problems called holding time. Mothers were instructed to take hold of their defiant child at these times, holding them tightly to the point of inducing anger." p 4. "Foster Cline (1991) and associates at the Attachment Center at Evergreen, Inc. (Evergreen, Colorado) began to promote the use of the same or similar holding techniques with adopted, maltreated children who were said to have an attachment disorder (not to be confused with DSM-IV’s reactive attachment disorder)." p 4.Fainites 11:39, 21 April 2007 (UTC)
'5' 'YES' Let's get rid of it or have it clarified...I think it is fine to just leave it out and move on. It's doesn't add much to the article. MarkWood 17:47, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
6. Yes For all the reasons stated above, it can be excluded. RalphLendertalk 16:21, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
Well we're obviously not going to be able to agree on history. We seem to be stuck between "History is bunk" (H.Ford), and "Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it", (can't remember). Or perhaps it's "History is the propaganda of the victors", (can't remember). Lets move on. (unsigned comment by 'User:Fainites')
I'm not unhappy and I don't have to accept your 'consensus', particularly not when you originally called it 'good'! One more go!
Speltz (2002) states that the roots of "Attachment Therapy" are traced to Robert Zaslow in the 1970’s. Zaslow attempted to force attachment in those suffering from autism by creating pain and rage whilst enforcing eye contact. He believed that holding someone against their will would lead to a breakdown in their defence mechanism’s making them more receptive to others. Speltz point’s out that these ideas have been dispelled by research into autism and that, conversely, techniques based on behavioural principles have proved effective.
According to Speltz, "a decade later, Martha Welsh (1984, 1989) described a technique for children with attachment problems called holding time. Mothers were instructed to take hold of their defiant child at these times, holding them tightly to the point of inducing anger." p 4. "Foster Cline (1991) and associates at the Attachment Center at Evergreen, Inc. (Evergreen, Colorado) began to promote the use of the same or similar holding techniques with adopted, maltreated children who were said to have an attachment disorder (not to be confused with DSM-IV’s reactive attachment disorder)." p 4.
According to Prior and Glaser (2006) "there is no empirical evidence to support Zaslows theory. The concept of suppressed rage has, nevertheless, continued to be a central focus explaining the children’s behaviour (Cline 1991)." p263.
Chaffin et al describe the underlying principles of Attachment Therapy as follows; “In contrast to traditional attachment theory, the theory of attachment described by controversial attachment therapies is that young children who experience adversity (including maltreatment, loss, separations, adoption, frequent changes in child care, colic or even frequent ear infections) become enraged at a very deep and primitive level. As a result, these children are conjectured to lack an ability to attach or to be genuinely affectionate to others. Suppressed or unconscious rage is theorized to prevent the child from forming bonds with caregivers and leads to behavior problems when the rage erupts into unchecked aggression. The children are described as failing to develop a conscience and as not trusting others. They are said to seek control rather than closeness, resist the authority of caregivers, and engage in endless power struggles. From this perspective, children described as having attachment problems are seen as highly manipulative in their social relations and actively trying to avoid true attachments while simultaneously striving to control adults and others around them through manipulation and superficial sociability. Children described as having attachment problems are alleged by proponents of the controversial therapies to be at risk for becoming psychopaths who will go on to engage in very serious delinquent, criminal, and antisocial behaviors if left untreated." p 78
Prior and Glaser cite the one published study which "purports to be an evaluation of holding therapy" by Myeroff et al (1999). The methodology of this study is heavily criticized. This study covers the "across the lap" type holding therapy, described as "not restraint" by Howe and Fearnley (2003) but "being held whilst unable to gain release."
Prior and Glaser also state, "There are many ways in which holding therapy/attachment therapy contradicts Bowlby's attachment theory, not least attachment theory's fundamental and evidence-based statement that security is promoted by sensitivity. Moreover, Bowlby (1988)explicitly rejected the notion of regression, which is key to the holding therapy approach: "present knowledge of infant and child development requires that a theory of developmental pathways should replace theories that invoke specific phases of development in which it is held a person may become fixated and/or to which he may regress." " p265. Chaffin et al also cite "encouraging children to regress to infant status" as a feature of these therapies (p83) and include "age regression" as a technique to avoid in their guidelines at p86.
Fainites 23:56, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe ‘two discourses’ on attachment disorder. One science based, found in academic journals and books with careful reference to theory, international classifications and evidence. They list Bowlby, Ainsworth, Tizard, Hodges, Chisholm, O’Connor and Zeanah and colleagues as respected attachment theorists and researchers in the field. The other discourse is found in clinical practice, non-academic literature and on the Internet where claims are made which have no basis in attachment theory and for which there is no empirical evidence. In particular unfounded claims are made as to efficacy of ‘treatments’.
Attachment disorders are classified in DSM-IV-TR and ICD-10. DSM describes Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy or Early Childhood, divided into two subtypes, Inhibited Type and Disinhibited Type. The ICD classification describes two types, Reactive Attachment Disorder of Childhood and Disinhibited Attachment Disorder of Childhood. Both classifications are under constant discussion and both warn against automatic diagnosis based on abuse or neglect. Many ‘symptoms’ are present in a variety of other more common and more easily treatable disorders.
DSM and ICD are limited and some researchers in the field of attachment such as Zeannah have proposed alternative diagnostic criteria to describe broader disorders of attachment but the exact parameters are not yet established.
Chaffin et al and Prior and Glaser describe the proliferation of alternative ‘lists’ and diagnoses, particularly on the Internet, by proponents of Attachment Therapies that do not accord with either DSM or ICD classifications and which are partly based on the unsubstantiated views of Zaslow and Menta (1975) and Cline (1991). Neither do these lists accord with alternative diagnostic criteria as proposed above. According to Chaffin et al 'These types of lists are so nonspecific that high rates of false-positive diagnoses are virtually certain.' Prior and Glaser state that many of the behaviors in the lists are likely to be the consequences of neglect and abuse rather than located within the attachment paradigm.
Please do not alter this and then vote on a Bowdlerised version. This is my post. Comment below or in italics.Fainites 23:45, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
The following represents the consenus on the first three paragraphs. I think we can now agree to put this into the article and replace the first three paragraphs
"Attachment Therapy", (also known as attachment therapy, holding therapy, rebirthing therapy, or corrective attachment therapy) is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder which is itself an ambiguous term. However, because the term has no common meaning, or generally accepted meaning, in the professional community, its actual definition is unclear. The term is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual. A number of advocacy groups, such as Advocates for Children in Therapy and Quackwatch have undertaken to label a large number of treatments for children with disorders of attachment as "Attachment Therapy" and attempt to discredit those therapies.[[50]]. The treatments often involve coercive and intrusive methods including variants of holding therapy or rebirthing or rage-reduction. According to Prior and Glaser (2006), ‘these therapies are not based on an accepted version of attachment theory and there is no objective evaluation of them’. Many professional bodies and some American States have outlawed rebirthing.
In a report for the ASPAC, Chaffin et al state 'controversies have arisen about a particular subset of attachment therapy techniques developed by a subset of attachment therapy practitioners, techniques that have been implicated in several child deaths and other harmful effects.' They attempt to define this subset of therapies (see below) and state that 'popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions.” . p77 Care should be taken to distinguish between the subset of 'therapies' covered by this article and more mainstream therapies, particularly as what is and what is not described as an 'Attachment Therapy' within the meaning of this article is controversial and advocacy groups such as ACT and Quackwatch include a broadly defined range of therapies in their description of Attachment Therapy, some of which are not coercive or intrusive as described in this article.
Defination of Attachment Therapy There is no generally accepted definition of "Attachment Therapy". It is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual nor in generally recognized texts on treatment modalities, such as Bergin & Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change. There is not any specific text that describes this "treatment" approach. Chaffin et al (2006) describe the polarization between the proponents of ‘Attachment Therapy’ and mainstream therapies stating, "This polarization is compounded by the fact that attachment therapy has largely developed outside the mainstream scientific and professional community and flourishes within its own networks of attachment therapists, treatment centers, caseworkers, and parent support groups. Indeed, proponents and critics of the controversial attachment therapies appear to move in different worlds." p85
The report of the APSAC Task Force on Attachment Therapy, Reactive Attachment Disorder and Attachment Problems (Chaffin et al 2006), having said "The terms attachment disorder, attachment problems, and attachment therapy, although increasingly used, have no clear, specific, or consensus definitions", (p 83) attempt to describe this subset as follows: "The attachment therapy controversy has centred most broadly on the use of what is known as “holding therapy” (Welch, 1988) and coercive, restraining, or aversive procedures such as deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, punishments related to food and water intake, enforced eye contact, requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs, barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker, encouraging children to regress to infant status, reparenting, attachment parenting, or techniques designed to provoke cathartic emotional discharge. Variants of these treatments have carried various labels that appear to change frequently. They may be known as “rebirthing therapy,” “compression holding therapy,” “corrective attachment therapy,” “the Evergreen model,” “holding time,” or “rage-reduction therapy” (Cline, 1991; Lien, 2004; Levy & Orlans, 1998; Welch, 1988). Popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions." p83 Chaffin et al also state, "encouraging children to regress to infant status" as a feature of these therapies and as a technique to be avoided. p83
Speltz (2002) in a paper published in the APSAC newsletter APSAC Advisor and describe ‘corrective attachment therapy’ as follows: "… the holding therapies included in “corrective” attachment therapy do not address safety needs. They differ in that a therapist or parent initiates the holding process for the purpose of provoking strong, negative emotions in the child (e.g., fear, anger), and the child’s release is typically contingent upon his or her compliance with the therapist’s clinical agenda." p4.
Prior and Glaser (2006) describe ‘Attachment therapy’ as a variety of treatments offered to desperate carers of troubled, maltreated children which often include variants of holding, eg holding time (Welch 1998), therapeutic holding (Howe and Fearnley 2003), rage reduction therapy (Cline 1991) and rebirthing. They state, "There are many ways in which holding therapy/attachment therapy contradicts Bowlby's attachment theory, not least attachment theory's fundamental and evidence-based statement that security is promoted by sensitivity. Moreover, Bowlby (1988)explicitly rejected the notion of regression, which is key to the holding therapy approach: 'present knowledge of infant and child development requires that a theory of developmental pathways should replace theories that invoke specific phases of development in which it is held a person may become fixated and/or to which he may regress." p265.
The advocacy group Advocates for Children in Therapy define, "Attachment Therapy (AT).. as …a growing, underground movement for the treatment of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers. AT practitioners allege that the root cause of the children’s misbehavior is a failure to 'attach' to their caregivers. The purported correction by AT is — literally — to force the children into loving (attaching to) their parents ...there is a hands-on treatment involving physical restraint and discomfort. Attachment Therapy is the imposition of boundary violations - most often coercive restraint - and verbal abuse on a child, usually for hours at a time...Typically, the child is put in a lap hold with the arms pinned down, or alternatively an adult lies on top of a child lying prone on the floor." [[51] They state "Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation." [52] The group identify rebirthing as a form of Attachment therapy.
History and underlying principles Speltz (2002) states that the roots of "Attachment Therapy" are traced to Robert Zaslow in the 1970’s. Zaslow attempted to force attachment in those suffering from autism by creating pain and rage whilst enforcing eye contact. He believed that holding someone against their will would lead to a breakdown in their defence mechanism’s making them more receptive to others. Speltz point’s out that these ideas have been dispelled by research into autism and that, conversely, techniques based on behavioural principles have proved effective.
According to Prior and Glaser (2006) "there is no empirical evidence to support Zaslows theory. The concept of suppressed rage has, nevertheless, continued to be a central focus explaining the children’s behaviour (Cline 1991)." p263.
Chaffin et al describe the underlying principles of Attachment Therapy as follows; “In contrast to traditional attachment theory, the theory of attachment described by controversial attachment therapies is that young children who experience adversity (including maltreatment, loss, separations, adoption, frequent changes in child care, colic or even frequent ear infections) become enraged at a very deep and primitive level. As a result, these children are conjectured to lack an ability to attach or to be genuinely affectionate to others. Suppressed or unconscious rage is theorized to prevent the child from forming bonds with caregivers and leads to behavior problems when the rage erupts into unchecked aggression. The children are described as failing to develop a conscience and as not trusting others. They are said to seek control rather than closeness, resist the authority of caregivers, and engage in endless power struggles. From this perspective, children described as having attachment problems are seen as highly manipulative in their social relations and actively trying to avoid true attachments while simultaneously striving to control adults and others around them through manipulation and superficial sociability. Children described as having attachment problems are alleged by proponents of the controversial therapies to be at risk for becoming psychopaths who will go on to engage in very serious delinquent, criminal, and antisocial behaviors if left untreated." p 78
Prior and Glaser cite the one published study which "purports to be an evaluation of holding therapy" by Myeroff et al (1999). This study covers the "across the lap" approach, described as "not restraint" by Howe and Fearnley (2003) but "being held whilst unable to gain release." Prior and Glaser also state, "There are many ways in which holding therapy/attachment therapy contradicts Bowlby's attachment theory, not least attachment theory's fundamental and evidence-based statement that security is promoted by sensitivity. Present knowledge of infant and child development requires that a theory of developmental pathways should replace theories that invoke specific phases of development in which it is held a person may become fixated and/or to which he may regress." p265. DPetersontalk 00:30, 3 May 2007 (UTC)
Attachment theory holds that caregiver qualities such as environmental stability, parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to children’s physical and emotional needs, consistency, and a safe and predictable environment support the development of healthy attachment. From this perspective, improving these positive caretaker and environmental qualities is the key to improving attachment. From the traditional attachment theory viewpoint, therapy for children who are maltreated and described as having attachment problems emphasizes providing a stable environment and taking a calm, sensitive, nonintrusive, nonthreatening, patient, predictable, and nurturing approach toward children (Haugaard, 2004a; Nichols, Lacher,&May, 2004). (Chaffin et al). Prior and Glaser (2006) describe evidence based treatments, all of which revolve around enhancing caregiver sensitivity, or change of caregiver if that is not possible. Based on meta-analyses by Bakermans-Krananburg et al (2003) covering 70 published studies for assessing sensitivity, 81 studies on sensitivity and 29 on attachment security and many further randomised intervention studies involving over 7,000 families, among the methods singled out to have shown good results were 'Watch, wait and wonder' (Cohen et al 1999), manipulation of sensitive responsiveness, (van den Boom 1994 and 1995), modified 'Interaction Guidance' (Benoit et al 2001), 'Preschool Parent Psychotherapy', (Toth et al (2002) and 'Circle of Security' (Marvin et al 2002). Treatment and prevention programs that use methods congruent with attachment theory and with well established principles of child development (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) include: Alicia Lieberman (Parent-child Psychotherapy) (Lieberman & Pawl in Infant Mental Health, 1993 )(Lieberman 2003), Stanley Greenspan (Floor Time), Daniel Hughes (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) (Becker-Weidman & Shell, 2005) (Hughes, 2003), Mary Dozier (autonomous states of mind), Robert Marvin (Circle of Security) (Marvin & Whelan 2003), Phyllis Jernberg (Theraplay), Daniel Schechter (Clinician Assisted Videofeedback Exposure Sessions) (Schechter, 2003), and Joy Osofsky (Safe Start Initiative) (in Infant Mental Health, 1993.
According to O’Connor and Zeanah (2003 p235) "The holding approach would be viewed as intrusive and therefore non-sensitive and counter therapeutic". Chaffin et al (2006) describe how the conceptual focus of these treatments is the childs individual internal pathology and past caregivers rather than current parent-child relationships or current environment, to the extent that if the child is well behaved outside the home this is seen as manipulative. It was noted that this perspective has its attractions because it relieves the caregivers of responsibility to change aspects of their own behavior and aspirations. Proponents of the controversial therapies emphasize the child’s resistance to attachment and the need to break down the child’s resistance. Often parents are required to follow programmes of treatment at home, for example, obedience-training techniques such as "strong sitting" (frequent periods of required silence and immobility) and withholding or limiting food (Thomas, 2001). Also requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs and barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker.
The APSAC report does not describe "Attachment Therapy", it uses the term "attachment therapy" (no caps or quotation marks). They state, “The terms attachment disorder, attachment problems, and attachment therapy, although increasingly used, have no clear, specific, or consensus definitions." Pg 77 (Furthermore, what seems to be focus of this proposed page only addresses a very narrow area,) “Controversies have arisen about potentially harmful attachment therapy techniques used by a subset of attachment therapists.” Pg 76 (Attachment therapy is better discussed in context, especially if the focus is on “a particular subset of attachment therapy techniques developed by a subset of attachment therapy practitioners” pg 77. The controversy is a narrow one and should be placed in context so that readers understand the full range of issues.) “ The attachment therapy controversy has centered most broadly on the use of what is known as “holding therapy” (Welch, 1988) and coercive, restraining, or aversive procedures such as deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, punishments related to food and water intake, enforced eye contact, requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs, barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker, encouraging children to regress to infant status, reparenting, attachment parenting, or techniques designed to provoke cathartic emotional discharge” pg 83.
ACT’s site contains descriptions of Attachment Therapy, including a link to the transcript of the rebirthing process that lead to the death by suffocation of Candace Newmaker at the hands of her unlicensed ‘therapists’. According to ACT "Attachment Therapy almost always involves extremely confrontational, often hostile confrontation of a child by a therapist or parent (sometimes both). Restraint of the child by more powerful adult(s) is considered an essential part of the confrontation." [53]
DPetersontalk 00:39, 3 May 2007 (UTC)
???DPetersontalk 00:52, 5 May 2007 (UTC)Based on meta-analyses by Bakermans-Krananburg et al (2003) covering 70 published studies for assessing sensitivity, 81 studies on sensitivity and 29 on attachment security and many further randomised intervention studies involving over 7,000 families, among the methods singled out to have shown good results were 'Watch, wait and wonder' (Cohen et al 1999), manipulation of sensitive responsiveness, (van den Boom 1994 and 1995), modified 'Interaction Guidance' (Benoit et al 2001), 'Preschool Parent Psychotherapy', (Toth et al (2002) and 'Circle of Security' (Marvin et al 2002). Treatment and prevention programs that use methods congruent with attachment theory and with well established principles of child development (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) include: Alicia Lieberman (Parent-child Psychotherapy) (Lieberman & Pawl in Infant Mental Health, 1993 )(Lieberman 2003), Stanley Greenspan (Floor Time), Daniel Hughes (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) (Becker-Weidman & Shell, 2005) (Hughes, 2003), Mary Dozier (autonomous states of mind), Robert Marvin (Circle of Security) (Marvin & Whelan 2003), Phyllis Jernberg (Theraplay), Daniel Schechter (Clinician Assisted Videofeedback Exposure Sessions) (Schechter, 2003), and Joy Osofsky (Safe Start Initiative) (in Infant Mental Health, 1993.
'4.' 'I like it as is' As written it is fine. I prefer the listing of therapies so that no mistakes are made in assuming a trt is or isn't attachment therapy as defined in this article. But, if most want this without a listing, I could go for that. JohnsonRon 20:15, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
I'd agree with Ralphs on this one. Lets stick with the broad definition of what proper therapies should be in contrast to what AT is and leave it at that. Its simple, taken from good sources, uncontroversial and easily understood. And lets keep the stuff about the lability of the definition in the definition paragraph. Fainites 20:22, 5 May 2007 (UTC)
OK. I still think the stuff about definition is unecessary here but I can live with it :) Fainites 22:08, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
5. 'GOOD' Just as it is above, but with the lines redacted () as DP notes in the comment just previous to this one. JonesRDtalk 14:50, 6 May 2007 (UTC) 6 Yes I agree that the section can go in the marked items deleted. SamDavidson 22:29, 6 May 2007 (UTC)
Actually, looking at it again, apart from the line about capital letters (which I thought we had agreed to abandon earlier) the rest of para 3 of this section is a word for word repeat of a chunk of the definition section. Fainites 17:46, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Also, looking at Chaffin, they use capitals in the title. They're plainly talking about the same subset of therapies/phenomenon as ACT or indeed anybody else. Can we just agree to get rid of all this weird stuff about capital letters please? See Ralphs comment on this above where he wrote a(A)ttachment t(T)herapy to illustrate the point. Fainites 21:19, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
I've put in the three first paras with refs, and also the fourth one which was a description of attachment disorder/DSM/IC 10 etc which people agreed as far as I recall. I'm having a bit of trouble with the Prior and Glaser ref which keeps repeating itself instead doing abcdef like it should, but I'm sure I'll get to bottom of it. I'm also proposing to turn all the other 'mentions' of eg Cline/Zeannah into proper refs, but it may take a little time. Fainites 17:36, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Refs fixed Fainites 18:37, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Now the Cline ref is doing the same thing.Fainites 21:29, 7 May 2007 (UTC)
Despite the "problems" with references, nicely done. I can agree with what is up there so far. SamDavidson 01:29, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
What do you say about para 3 in the treament section which is a repeat of the definition section? (aprt from the line about capital letters) Fainites 08:59, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
('SUGGESTION': Begin with the original statment: "There are no reliable statistics on the prevalence of these therapies or of how many professionals actually practice "Attachment Therapy" or "rebirthing as it is also known. However, they are sufficiently prevalent...continue as you did.)SamDavidson 00:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC) It is difficult to ascertain the prevalence of these therapies but they are sufficiently prevalent to have prompted reactions as outlined by Chaffin et al as follows;
‘The practice of some forms of these treatments has resulted in professional licensure sanctions against some leading proponents of the controversial attachment therapies. There have been cases of successful criminal prosecution and incarceration of therapists or parents using controversial attachment therapy techniques and state legislation to ban particular therapies (remove particular therapiesSamDavidson 11:46, 8 May 2007 (UTC)) replace with "rebirthing" That is what is banned in law. SamDavidson 11:46, 8 May 2007 (UTC).)(its a quote! You can't replcae words you don't like in a quote.Fainites 18:58, 9 May 2007 (UTC)) Position statements against using coercion or restraint as a treatment were issued by mainstream professional societies (American Psychiatric Association, 2002) and by a professional organization focusing on attachment and attachment therapy (Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children [ATTACh], 2001). Despite these and other strong cautions from professional organizations, the controversial treatments and their associated concepts and foundational principles appear to be continuing among networks of attachment therapists, attachment therapy centers, caseworkers, and adoptive or foster parents (LEAVE OUT NAMES...WITHOUT CLEAR EVIDENCE THIS IS TOO CLOSE TO SLANDERSamDavidson 00:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC)) (Hage, n.d.-a; Keck, n.d.)’. p83 (nonsense. Its a direct quote from Chaffin, a publically available document. These papers are specifically cited by Chaffin et al.Fainites 08:50, 8 May 2007 (UTC))
(It is a direct quote, inside quotation marks.Fainites 18:22, 9 May 2007 (UTC))
A particular
What is your basis for saying this is a "particular concern?" It is just a section of the report. What word did they use to express this, did they use the word concern? SamDavidson 11:46, 8 May 2007 (UTC)) (P&G say 'this version is not discernably related to attachment theory, is based on no sound empirical evidence and has given rise to interventions whose effectiveness is not proven and which may be harmful'. Chaffin says 'These types of lists are so nonspecific that high rates of false-positive diagnoses are virtually certain. Posting these types of lists on Web sites that also serve as marketing tools may lead many parents or others to conclude inaccurately that their children have attachment disorders.' amongst other things. I would have thought 'concern' was a mild paraphrase.Fainites 18:53, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
concern of both Chaffin et al and Prior and Glaser is the use of the Internet to advertise these therapies and the use of unscientific and 'wildly inclusive' lists of 'symptoms' (Prior and Glaser p186). According to Chaffin et al 'These types of lists are so nonspecific that high rates of false-positive diagnoses are virtually certain. Posting these types of lists on Web sites that also serve as marketing tools may lead many parents or others to conclude inaccurately that their children have attachment disorders.'p83 (need page numberSamDavidson 00:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC)) Many of the behaviors in the lists are likely to be the consequences of neglect and abuse rather than located within the attachment paradigm. Descriptions of children are frequently highly perjorative and 'demonising'. According to Chaffin et al 'Proponents of controversial attachment therapies commonly assert that their therapies, and their therapies alone, are effective for children with attachment disorders and that more traditional treatments are either ineffective or harmful’.p78 (need page numberSamDavidson 00:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC)) They also express concern over claims by therapies to be 'evidence based' or indeed the 'only' evidence based therapy when the Task Force found no credible evidence base for any such therapy so advertised.p85 (need page number or quoteSamDavidson 00:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC))
The report of Chaffin et al, which contains proposed guidelines for therapies, was endorsed by was endorsed by the American Psychological Association’s Division 37 and the Division 37 Section on Child Maltreatment. (leave out...already cited...or cite all the guidelinesSamDavidson 00:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC)) (Leave out...cited in last paragraph...SamDavidson 00:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC)) (the previous mention was in relation to a position statement. Here it is being said that The APA specifically endorsed Chaffin. Its on the front page of Chaffin.Fainites 08:50, 8 May 2007 (UTC)) The report and its adoption should be in the paragraph with the list of other organizations and standards...not here. SamDavidson 11:46, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
Prior and Glaser (2006) state ‘The practice of holding therapy is not confined to the USA.’(page number needed here. SamDavidson 00:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC)) And give an example of a center in the UK practising ‘therapeutic holding’ of the 'across the lap' variety.p263.
The advocacy group ACT claim "Attachment Therapy is a growing, underground movement for the 'treatment' of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers."
There are no reliable statistics on how many professionals actually practice "Attachment Therapy" as described in this article. However the practices it often involves are now prohibited by a large number of professional organizations such as the following: American Psychological Association30, National Association of Social Workers31, American Professional society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) 32, Association for the Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrry ("Practice Parameter for the Assessment of Children and Adolescent with Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy and Early Childhood" in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, vol 44, Nov 2005 and at 33), and the American Psychiatric Association. 34. Members of those organizations are prohibited from using methods and techniques proscribed by those organizations codes of ethics and practice parameters. Violations of those standards would result in expulsion of the organization. (ADD:Therefore there are very few practitioners of "AT" as defined in this article.)SamDavidson 00:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC) (whats your source for saying there are very few? Why would ASPAC have commissioned that huge and no doubt expensive taskforce if there were very few?Fainites 08:50, 8 May 2007 (UTC)) Furthermore, several states have outlawed "rebirthing," and anyone using such methods would be guilty of malpractice.
Needs more work and editing...a bunch more. SamDavidson 00:54, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
What is the source for saying there are very few, or, its very rare? Is there a better source than the Taskforce on prevalence? Fainites 21:12, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
The recent edit by Davidson to add a reference and clean up a line or two are fine with me. I think this is an improvement and I support it. DPetersontalk 14:52, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
I have replaced the consensus version which consisted of a long direct quote from Chaffin (except for the word traditional) and included Chaffins citations. As you do not seem to have Chaffin, here is a direct copy taken from the report below;
"Traditional attachment theory holds that caregiver qualities such as environmental stability,parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to children’sphysical and emotional needs, consistency, and a safeand predictable environment support the developmentof healthy ttachment. From this perspective,improving these positive caretaker and environmentalqualities is the key to improving attachment. Fromthe traditional attachment theory viewpoint, therapyfor children who are maltreated and described as havingattachment problems emphasizes providing astable environment and taking a calm, sensitive, nonintrusive,nonthreatening, patient, predictable, and nurturing approach toward children (Haugaard,2004a; Nichols, Lacher,&May, 2004)." p 77.
Otherwise, what was the point of discussing and reaching consensus on the talkpage? As for citing Becker-Weidman as if Chaffin cited him in support, I am a little puzzled. The only mentions of Becker-Weidmans work I could find in Chaffin was these:
"Proponents of controversial attachment therapies commonly assert that their therapies, and their therapies alone, are effective for children with attachmentdisorders and that more traditional treatments areeither ineffective or harmful (see, e.g., Becker-Weidman, n.d.-b; Kirkland, n.d.; Thomas, n.d.-a)." p78
"Similarly, many controversial treatments hold that children described as attachment disordered must be pushed to revisit and relive early trauma. Children may be encouraged to regress to an earlier age where trauma was experienced (Becker-Weidman, n.d.-b)" p79
"Some proponents have claimed that research exists that supports their methods, or that their methods are evidence based, or are even the sole evidence-based approach in existence, yet these proponents provide no citations to credible scientificresearch sufficient to support these claims (Becker-Weidman, n.d.-b). This Task Force was unable to locate any methodologically adequate clinical trials in the published peer-reviewed scientific literature to support any of these claims for effectiveness, let alone claims that these treatments are the only effective available approaches. Most of the data offered on these Web sites is so methodologically compromised that the Task Force believes it could not support any clear conclusion." p85
Did you want to include any of this? I am happy to provide any more excerpts of Chaffin if you wish. My preference however would be to stick to the subject in hand and prioritise Chaffin, Glaser etc. Fainites 21:54, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Chaffin is not old. I also have their reply to Becker-Weidmans objections which is even more recent. The Chaffin version was agreed by consensus on this talkpage. Or are we not bothering with consensus on the talkpage any more? Presumably if you don't consider yourself in anyway bound by consensus on the talkpage, neither is anybody else and you won't object to me editing the article how I wish? It is misleading to include Becker-Weidman within either a paraphrase or quote from Chaffin as if Chaffin had included it and it is nonsense to cite Becker-Weidman as if he were a mainstream proponent of traditional attachment theory and therapies when he is specifically criticised by Chaffin for being the reverse. I do not see the necessity for him to come into this article at all. Fainites 22:56, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
The APSAC report was written in 2002 or so and did not include any material from 2005, maybe not even 2004, or later. DPetersontalk 23:10, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
I have also noticed that you have yet again interfered with my edits, presumably to make them less easily readable by others. For I think what must be about the seventh if not the eighth time, please leave my edits alone.Fainites 23:00, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
I have tried to keep your comments on the talk page consistent. When you don't indent, it is very hard to follow threads of conversations...This is the Wikipedia convention...Following this convention makes following threads easier to follow. DPetersontalk 23:10, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
Chaffin is older, it was written in 2000 or 02 or so. It did not include materials from 2005, 2006, or 2007, which are the publication dates for the Becker-Weidman empirical studies. Chaffin is not being quoted here. The version above is not a quote, therefore you are just wrong on that point. It seems that at least three of four editors are happy with this versioni. Remeber, no one owns any article. Consensus can evolve over time. I suggest leaving this as is and seeing if other editors have thoughts one way or the other. I understand that you've put a lot of time and effort in the edits, but you have to let of the material and allow others to edit the meterial if consensus calls for that or if your thoughts are not part of the consensus. DPetersontalk 23:10, 9 May 2007 (UTC)
No, the Becker-Weidman studies are empirical studies, one a one year followup, the other four years later. Chaffin does not dispute evidence-basis of studies because the studies were published 'AFTER' his article! Furthermore, Craven & Lee, 2006 (using 2004 data, not the 2005 & 2006 much stronger studies, found the material "evidence-based." DPetersontalk 12:34, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
But regardless, this is irrelevant to the discussion. The citations are verifiable per wiki DPetersontalk 12:34, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
The Taskforce did it's work in 2002, etc and was published in 2005. It did not reference the current studies. And, regardless, this is irrelevant to the discussion. The citations are verifiable per wiki DPetersontalk 12:34, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
I am talkin about the article not the talk page, read my comments above to verify that. The edits are about the article. You seem very unhappy with the relatively small changes made that all editors, except you, prefer. It is that to which I am referring the comments regarding ownership. Not me, but at least three editors. I suggest that you do not own this article and that changes made by a consensus of editors be abided by. DPetersontalk 12:34, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Remember, no one owns any article. Consensus can evolve over time. I suggest leaving this as is and seeing if other editors have thoughts one way or the other. I understand that you've put a lot of time and effort in the edits, but you have to let of the material and allow others to edit the meterial if consensus calls for that or if your thoughts are not part of the consensus.DPetersontalk 12:34, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Support Count me as the "fourth" who supports the edits. I think these, while slightly minor, are improvements. The section is clearer and the cites added are relevant to support the statement regarding attuned and sensitive parenting being important. Let's keep these improvements. MarkWood 16:17, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Let's let cool heads prevail. I'd suggest the version up there stay and that DPeterson and Fainites take a break, take a breath, and see what other's have to say. RalphLendertalk 17:11, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
I'd be interested to hear your reasons for altering a cited quotation from a verified and credible source and then including the studies that are part of the series that were specifically criticised by that report, as if they supported the report or were cited in support by the report. Can you explain how this fits with policies on the use of sources? (Or indeed common sense). It would be even more interesting to hear why 4 other editors so swiftly support what is plainly a misleading edit in violation of all policies. To what end? Fainites 17:46, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
'Please' Let's keep a cool head here and avoid any hint of Personal Attacks. I'd suggest taking a day or two to cool off and let other's comment. It is difficult when you've put so much work into an article to see other's editing it in ways you may not approve but in ways that a consensus supports. As I read the report and the comments, the report did not criticize the articles since the articles were published after the report was prepared and subsequently published. RalphLendertalk 17:56, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
If we're going to leave it a while it should be left with the consensus version. By the way, here are the Becker-Weidman citations from the first report "Becker-Weidman, A. (n.d.-a). Attachment therapy: What it is and what it isn’t. Retrieved June 4, 2004, from www.attachmentdisorder .net/Dr._Art_Treatment.htm Becker-Weidman, A. (n.d.-b). Dyadic developmental psychotherapy: An attachment-based therapy program. Retrieved July 2, 2004, from www.center4familydevelop.com/therapy.htm"
Here is what Chaffin et al said in November 2006 in reply to Becker-Weidmans letter about, amongst other things, his new study;
This was published in the November 2006 issue of Child Maltreat. If you wish to include in the article a discussion about criticism of Chaffin et al and why Becker-Weidman thinks they are wrong, then fine. What you can't do is pretend by misleading edits that Chaffin et al cited Becker-Weidman in their report as if he was one of the mainstream authorities on which they relied. This is misleading, and, as I have pointed out before, doesn't do Becker-Weidman any favours. Verified and credible sources have to actually be source for what they are attached to. Becker-Weidman is not a source for Chaffins description of traditional treatments for attachment disorders. Altering Chaffins quote by a few words to pretend it's not a quote doesn't make it OK! Fainites 10:16, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Please don't interpose your comments in the body of mine as it makes it difficult for others to follow. I have put my edits back together as they were originally posted. Fainites 11:16, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
I notice you have not commented on the evidence above that Chaffin et al clearly considered Becker-Weidmans 2006 study in their follow up published in November 2006 and still considered it to be not evidence based. Do you now agree it is misleading to insert Becker-Weidman into material that derives from Chaffin, as if they were all singing from the same hymn sheet? Fainites 19:05, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
I think that these other's comments responded to your questions and concerns...but you moved them out of context, so it is hard to follow...So here they are again (RalphLendertalk 19:52, 11 May 2007 (UTC)):
No, the Becker-Weidman studies are empirical studies, one a one year followup, the other four years later. Chaffin does not dispute evidence-basis of studies because the studies were published 'AFTER' his article! Furthermore, Craven & Lee, 2006 (using 2004 data, not the 2005 & 2006 much stronger studies, found the material "evidence-based." DPetersontalk 12:34, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
But regardless, this is irrelevant to the discussion. The citations are verifiable per wiki DPetersontalk 12:34, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
The Taskforce did it's work in 2002, etc and was published in 2005. It did not reference the current studies. And, regardless, this is irrelevant to the discussion. The citations are verifiable per wiki DPetersontalk 12:34, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
I am talkin about the article not the talk page, read my comments above to verify that. The edits are about the article. You seem very unhappy with the relatively small changes made that all editors, except you, prefer. It is that to which I am referring the comments regarding ownership. Not me, but at least three editors. I suggest that you do not own this article and that changes made by a consensus of editors be abided by. DPetersontalk 12:34, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Remember, no one owns any article. Consensus can evolve over time. I suggest leaving this as is and seeing if other editors have thoughts one way or the other. I understand that you've put a lot of time and effort in the edits, but you have to let of the material and allow others to edit the meterial if consensus calls for that or if your thoughts are not part of the consensus.DPetersontalk 12:34, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Overall, the Taskforce report did not include any of the Becker-Weidman empirical studies since the report was prepared in the early 2000's, was submitted in 2004 or 2005 and so did not include the several empirical studies by Dr. BW in peer-reviewed professional journals. In addition, the Craven & Lee meta-analysis/review cites the 2004 Dr. Becker-Weidman material as evidence-based. The later studies are much much stronger. RalphLendertalk 19:52, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
The evidence above, that Chaffin cites studies and websites from 2005, and cite Becker-Weidman 2004 show that your claims are untrue. Further, their reply of November 2006 shows that they had clearly and specifically considered his 2006 study. You do not deal with this. Why? Do you not have it? I am quite happy to e-mail it to you. Its really very clear.Fainites 18:34, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
The main source is a report by the Taskforce set up by the ASPAC (American Society for the Prevention of Abuse against Children). There is a link provided in the notes and refs section (unless it has been removed. Originally this article provided a link in German!). It was compiled by a very substantial number of the experts in the field of attachment and various aspects of child development. It criticises the theory and practice of 'attachment therapy'. It has been specifically endorsed by some professional bodies and it set out a comprehensive set of guidelines. It was published end 05/early 06. Thereafter there was some published open correspondence with those who felt unjustly criticised, to which there was a reply later in 2006. Most of this reply relates to Becker-Weidman, who is specifically criticised by the report on three counts, claiming an evidence base when there is none, overblown advertising on the internet, and use of 'age-regression techniques'. He is not criticised for using coercive or restraining methods but he is quoted as an example of the very 'attachment therapy' the report is dealing with. The argument here is about the fact that a consensus version of the article contained a quote from Chaffin et al about the characteristics of traditional and established therapies for attachment difficulties, by way of contrast to 'attachment therapy', and included citations to two papers. The supporters of Becker-Weidman who edit this page firstly inserted a paper by Becker-Weidman into the quote to make it look as if Becker-Weidman was an authority cited by Chaffin et al in support of their conclusions, rather than someone criticised by them as an 'attachment therapy'. They subsequently altered the quotation from Chaffin et al so it was no longer exactly a quote, and included Becker-Weidman again, to make it look as if he is a mainstream contributor in line with those quoted by Chaffin it al. Fainites 10:07, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
By the way its not clear which version you were looking at. The DP version does not have the line in quotes in its more recent manifestation. It is my version which has the first paragraph of 'treatment characteristics' in quotes as it is a quote from Chaffin (who did not include Becker-Weidman here).There is also a recent book by Prior and Glaser, also in the refs, which covers the whole topic of attachment disorders pretty comrehensively.Fainites 10:11, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Many professonal organizations oppose rebirthing and coercive forms of Attachment Therapy. Fainities implication that these forms of "treatment" include Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, is just not true. The Chaffin report was written and published before the several empirical studies demonstrating the effectiveness of DDP for the treatment of children with Reactive Attachment Disorder were published in professional peer reviewed journals. A more current report by Craven & Lee (2006), using a brief summary report on Dr. Becker-Weidman's research, which at the time did not report on the data from the control group, did label the treatment as evidence-based. DPetersontalk 11:18, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Unfortunatley, Fainities version is not the consensus version as five editors now prefer the version that SamDavidson put up to the one Fainities worked so hard on. DPetersontalk 11:18, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
My objection is to the pretense that Becker-Weidman was cited by Chaffin as if he was a mainstream contributor of whom they approved when in fact the reverse was the case. I have not mentioned Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy above. I see no reason why 'names should be named' in this article at all. It was not me who inserted Becker-Weidman. However, if you are going to include Becker-Weidman in this article, it has to be on a factual basis. Your consistant attempts to include him in lists of 'evidence based treatements (earlier on the talkpage) or as if he was cited as mainstream by Chaffin are misleading and unaccaptable. He may well achieve 'evidence based' one day. There may come a time when Chaffin et al are forced to eat their words, but that is not the current position! Your misleading statements on this page about Chaffin et al having been written on 00/02 and about them not having had access to his recent study, in the light of their November 2006 publication, do not help. I am quite happy to send you my sources. I assumed you had them as you make such confident claims about them, but as so many of your confident claims are wrong, perhaps you don't. Why are you so keen to misrepresent Becker-Weidman? Does he know you're doing it? 'Consensus' doesn't mean its OK to pervert sources.Fainites 12:00, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Thank you! Fainites 14:53, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Hello again. I think this is an important question. There seems to be some evidence of the validity of rebirthing/AT or whatever synonym. Is its main purpose for treating mental behavioral disorders specifically? Maypole 12:23, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Rebirthing is not synonymous with attachment therapy, but sometimes is used by some attachment therapists. Rebirthing is also used for adults. There is Wiki page on it I think. Try also Singer in 'Crazy Therapies' who has a very entertaining chapter on rebirthing as used on adults. Attachment therapy is a form of therapy used for treating children with supposed attachment disorders, usually, as Father Tree says, adoptees or similar. It varies from one extreme including coercive and restraining techniques, obedience training and sometimes rebirthing, to the other end where it is non coercive, but still comes under the definition of attachment therapy because of the underlying theoretical principles and some practices. What is the evidence you mention for the validity of rebirthing? I'd be interested to see it. You say 'from my reading'. What are you reading? Fainites 14:52, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Yes Father Tree is right, but this article is about the subset of non-mainstream therapies commonly referred to as 'attachment therapy'. It encompasses a variety of techniques. The most common is 'holding therapy'. It is absolutely not synonymous with rebirthing. Many attachment therapists do not use rebirthing and some do not use coercive or restraining techniques. Rebirthing became the famous one because of deaths of children. Sometimes in the media the terms are used interchangeably, but this is an encyclopedia. Chaffin et al explain very clearly what it encompasses and what is commonly meant by the term. It is used to treat alleged 'attachment disorders'. That is in itself a controversial term. One of the criticisms of AT is the use of lists of 'symptoms' on the internet so parents self diagnose problematical children as having an attachment disorder and then seek attachment therapy when neither the diagnosis, list nor therapy is in any way validated. Have you found the source for Chaffin et al yet? In the notes and refs section there is a direct link to Pubmed so you can download it from Sage. I can post the Chaffin definition here for you if you like. Fainites 17:28, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
We ought at some point, if the article ever gets to the point where it's allowed to say what AT is, to put in a paragraph of what its proponents say in it's defence. Chaffin cover this pretty comprehensively aswell. Fainites 17:32, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Many "Attachment Therapists" don't use rebirthing, or holding, etc. etc. This is a very ill defined term. But rebirthing and holding are terms also used for AT on the web and in various articles. DPetersontalk 14:49, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
I'm getting a little lost. Could someone please clarify for me what the Chaffin quote dispute is all about? Where exactly is the passage in question? StokerAce 01:25, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
See my reply above. it's the first paragraph under 'treatment characteristics'. Fainites 10:09, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
The Chaffin quote is not in dispute. The paragraphs were edited by another editor and the consensus is that version is preferred. There is no dispute with a "Chaffin quote." The paragraphs describe the importance of attuned and sensitive parenting. DPetersontalk 11:18, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
If the Chaffin quote is not in dispute then presumably it can remain in the article, as a quote, with it's genuine citations, without extraneous and misleading citations being added.Fainites 11:51, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
The edit is an improvement in that is is broader. RalphLendertalk 13:06, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
This is a statement with a number of verifiable citations. RalphLendertalk 13:09, 11 May 2007 (UTC)Improving these positive caretaker and environmental qualities is a key to improving attachment. From this perspective, treatment for children who are maltreated and described as having attachment problems emphasizes providing a stable environment and taking a calm, sensitive, attuned, nonintrusive, nonthreatening, patient, predictable, and nurturing approach toward children (Haugaard, 2004a;[1] Becker-Weidman & Shell, 2005[2] Nichols,Lacher & May, 2004[3], Chaffin, 2006[4]).
For what it's worth, my take on the issue is that the current version is very confusing. It could be interpeted, by those unfamiliar with the issues here, to mean that Dr. Becker-Weidman practices attachment therapy (this was not the intent, of course). By citing to Dr. Becker-Weidman in a section on "treatment characteristics" on the "attachment therapy" page, it looks like this is what he does. While he used to describe his therapy with this term, he no longer does (as I understand it). Alternatively, the passage could also be interpreted to mean that his work has been endorsed by Chaffin, which it has not. Dr. Becker-Weidman has contributed to these discussions in the past, so it would be interesting to get his views here. StokerAce 14:30, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
The original passage was Chaffins statement on the characteristics of therapies that were not 'attachment therapy'. This is the full passage.
What has happened is that firstly Becker-Weidman was inserted into Chaffins list of authorities for the passage. When it was pointed out how grossly misleading this was, the quote was altered in various ways to change its meaning and effect and Becker-Weidman was again inserted as a reference. The problem with this is that it creates an entirley misleading impression. Chaffin et al do in fact criticise Becker-Weidman in the context of being a proponent of attachment therapy. They do not use the word 'attunement'. To amalgamate two opposing positions into one passage and run all the references togather is utterley misleading and confusing. Also, whats the point? This isn't rocket science! The Chaffin quote is perfectly straightforward. Prior and Glaser also describe non-attachment therapy therapies. Why try and mix it all up with Becker-Weidman who is specifically criticised by Chaffin? If you want to cite Becker-Weidmans opinions on what proper therapy is, fine, but why mix it up with othersources veiews in this misleading way? I also would like to get Becker-Weidmans views on this. It concerns me that he is being misrepresented in this way. If anybody thought he was party to this kind of thing it could damage his credibility.Fainites 14:40, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
As the section was edited and rewritten, it is not a quote and does not misrepresent...In fact is is much improved and, as the other section indicated, most editors prefer this clearer more fully sourced version. DPetersontalk 14:51, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
It appears that a significant number of editors prefer the version by SamDavidson. Consensus supports this version. Fainities concerns are understandable. Anyone who has put a lot of work into a work feels some ownership of that material. Wikipedia works on consensus and that may change over time. As I read it the following editors prefer the version in place:
1. "The recent edit by Davidson to add a reference and clean up a line or two are fine with me. I think this is an improvement and I support it. DPetersontalk 14:52, 9 May 2007 (UTC)"
2. "Very nice...I agree. JonesRDtalk 15:20, 9 May 2007 (UTC) "
3. "Support Count me as the "fourth" who supports the edits. I think these, while slightly minor, are improvements. The section is clearer and the cites added are relevant to support the statement regarding attuned and sensitive parenting being important. Let's keep these improvements. MarkWood 16:17, 10 May 2007 (UTC)"
4. "Hi all. I came across AT from my research into hypnotherapy. From the diffs I think there is no problem with the current version (DPeterson et al's version). The line is in quotes and the words are in order and it holds the correct meaning. Maypole 03:31, 11 May 2007 (UTC) "
5. I liked the old version and like this one even more. RalphLendertalk 13:16, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
6. I would agree that I prefer this version and would like it to stay. JohnsonRon 20:20, 11 May 2007 (UTC) RalphLendertalk 13:16, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Ownership is not the problem. Distortion and perversion of sources is the problem. And as I keep asking; for what purpose? Fainites 15:40, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Attachment theory holds that caregiver qualities such as environmental stability, parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to children’s physical and emotional needs, consistency, and a safe and predictable environment support the development of healthy attachment. From this perspective, improving these positive caretaker and environmental qualities is the key to improving attachment. From the traditional attachment theory viewpoint, therapy for children who are maltreated and described as having attachment problems emphasizes providing a stable environment and taking a calm, sensitive, nonintrusive, nonthreatening, patient, predictable, and nurturing approach toward children (Haugaard, 2004a; Nichols, Lacher,&May, 2004). (Chaffin et al). Treatment and prevention programs that use methods congruent with attachment theory and with well established principles of child development (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) include: Alicia Lieberman (Parent-child Psychotherapy) (Lieberman & Pawl in Infant Mental Health, 1993 )(Lieberman 2003), Stanley Greenspan (Floor Time), Daniel Hughes (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) (Becker-Weidman & Shell, 2005) (Hughes, 2003), Mary Dozier (autonomous states of mind), Robert Marvin (Circle of Security) (Marvin & Whelan 2003), Phyllis Jernberg (Theraplay), Daniel Schechter (Clinician Assisted Videofeedback Exposure Sessions) (Schechter, 2003), and Joy Osofsky (Safe Start Initiative) (in Infant Mental Health, 1993.</bockquote>DPetersontalk 02:46, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Regarding:
There is no generally accepted definition of "Attachment Therapy"[citation needed]. It is not a term found in the American Medical Association's Physician's Current Procedural Manual nor in generally recognized texts on treatment modalities, such as Bergin & Garfield's Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change. There is not any specific text that describes this "treatment" approach. Chaffin et al (2006) describe the polarization between the proponents of ‘Attachment Therapy’ and mainstream therapies stating, "This polarization is compounded by the fact that attachment therapy has largely developed outside the mainstream scientific and professional community and flourishes within its own networks of attachment therapists, treatment centers, caseworkers, and parent support groups. Indeed, proponents and critics of the controversial attachment therapies appear to move in different worlds." p85 [2]
Doesn't the sentance following the citation tag answer that? What I mean is that the rest of the paragraph describes how generally accepted texts do not use the term and the article as a whole seems to make the point that there are varied definations of this term. What do others think? RalphLendertalk 15:48, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Regarding the statement,
They attempt to define this subset of therapies (see below) and state that 'popularly, on the Internet, among foster or adoptive parents, and to case workers, they are simply known as “attachment therapy,” although these controversial therapies certainly do not represent the practices of all professionals using attachment concepts as a basis for their interventions.” . p77 Care should be taken to distinguish between the subset of 'therapies' covered by this article and more mainstream therapies[citation needed], particularly as what is and what is not described as an 'Attachment Therapy' within the meaning of this article is controversial and advocacy groups such as ACT and Quackwatch include a broadly defined range of therapies in their description of Attachment Therapy, some of which are not coercive or intrusive as described in this article[citation needed].
, doesn't the first line provide a citation and page number that supports the statement, as might, [54]. What do others think? RalphLendertalk 15:52, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
#. I Agree for all the reasons previously stated. MarkWood 16:52, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
As with many of these discussions, there seems to be something beneath the surface here, but it's not always easy to figure out what it is. My guess is that it's the following. DPeterson et al. are trying to make sure that Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy does not get lumped in with Attachment Therapy/attachment therapy. That seems fine to me. I just think it would be better to do it more explicitly and with some detailed comparisons. The way it is being done now is very confusing. In fact, as I've said, I could see how people would read the existing version to mean that Dr. Becker-Weidman practices attachment therapy. Here's my suggestion. Create a separate section explaining that some definitions of attachment therapy have been quite broad, and have implied that various practices (including DDP) are examples of AT. The section could then explain how DDP is different and why it should not be considered part of AT. It doesn't have to be a long section at all, and could link to the DDP page. I think this would be clearer than the current version and (perhaps) less controversial. StokerAce 20:52, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Attachment theory holds that caregiver qualities such as environmental stability, parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to children’s physical and emotional needs, consistency, and a safe and predictable environment support the development of healthy attachment. From this perspective, improving these positive caretaker and environmental qualities is the key to improving attachment. From the traditional attachment theory viewpoint, therapy for children who are maltreated and described as having attachment problems emphasizes providing a stable environment and taking a calm, sensitive, nonintrusive, nonthreatening, patient, predictable, and nurturing approach toward children (Haugaard, 2004a; Nichols, Lacher,&May, 2004). (Chaffin et al). Treatment and prevention programs that use methods congruent with attachment theory and with well established principles of child development (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) include: Alicia Lieberman (Parent-child Psychotherapy) (Lieberman & Pawl in Infant Mental Health, 1993 )(Lieberman 2003), Stanley Greenspan (Floor Time), Daniel Hughes (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) (Becker-Weidman & Shell, 2005) (Hughes, 2003), Mary Dozier (autonomous states of mind), Robert Marvin (Circle of Security) (Marvin & Whelan 2003), Phyllis Jernberg (Theraplay), Daniel Schechter (Clinician Assisted Videofeedback Exposure Sessions) (Schechter, 2003), and Joy Osofsky (Safe Start Initiative) (in Infant Mental Health, 1993.
DPetersontalk 21:07, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
I'm comparing edit histories right now, and to me, it looks like Shotwell is unrelated, but I think Sarner and StokerAce may be related. If Sarner and StokerAce agree, I'd like to call for a CheckUser. Nwwaew(My talk page) 13:51, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
I'm almost certain now that Sarner and StokerAce are related- both of them have edit histories in all caps regarding talk pages. I'm going to file a report at Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets. Nwwaew(My talk page) 14:05, 21 October 2006 (UTC) Request filed here. Nwwaew(My talk page) 14:30, 21 October 2006 (UTC) Do you realize that the edit summaries in all caps are the section headings that they were replying under? Neither User:Sarner nor User:StokerAce created those sections. shotwell 17:27, 21 October 2006 (UTC) FYI, they are both from the Denver area, when I've done and IRC check on those instances where they neglected to sign in. RalphLendertalk 18:10, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
An "IRC check when they neglected to sign in"? Are you saying you've seen them on IRC? If so, I don't understand the "neglected to sign in" part. Are you trying to say that you've seen comments from both parties on wikipedia made while they weren't signed in and you did an IP check? Can I ask how you know that the IP's were related to either person? shotwell 18:21, 21 October 2006 (UTC) from [[56]], and that one could assume some "underlying" purpose in your edits given your history with this subject to eliminate any references to DDP and to portray it in the same light as ACT protrays many other treatments. So, let's just Assume Good Faith here. The above paragraphs would be fine, or leave the article as is, which is also fine. Remember that now I think it is 6 other editors prefer the Treatment Characteristics section you are disputing. DPetersontalk 21:34, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Six other editors prefer the Treatment Characteristics section as written, see above: [57] DPetersontalk 21:38, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
I think you've misinterpreted my point. I'm not accusing you of bad faith. I'm saying that what you've written does not achieve what I think you're trying to achieve. And I'm suggesting a better way to do it. It doesn't read that way to you because you know something about the field. But for those who are unfamiliar, it will be confusing. Feel free to ignore me. It doesn't bother me if the current version could be read to imply that Dr. Becker-Weidman practices attachment therapy. If you don't care either, that's fine. One other thought. If you are concerned that ACT lists DDP on their page, why don't you just contact them and ask them to take it off? I'm sure they would. Unfortunately, I am not Larry Sarner. Otherwise, I'd just take if off myself. ;) StokerAce 22:13, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
Attachment theory holds that caregiver qualities such as environmental stability, parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to children’s physical and emotional needs, consistency, and a safe and predictable environment support the development of healthy attachment. From this perspective, improving these positive caretaker and environmental qualities is the key to improving attachment. From the traditional attachment theory viewpoint, therapy for children who are maltreated and described as having attachment problems emphasizes providing a stable environment and taking a calm, sensitive, nonintrusive, nonthreatening, patient, predictable, and nurturing approach toward children (Haugaard, 2004a; Nichols, Lacher,&May, 2004). (Chaffin et al).
Treatment and prevention programs that use methods congruent with attachment theory and with well established principles of child development (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) include: Alicia Lieberman (Parent-child Psychotherapy) (Lieberman & Pawl in Infant Mental Health, 1993 )(Lieberman 2003), Stanley Greenspan (Floor Time), Daniel Hughes (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) (Becker-Weidman & Shell, 2005) (Hughes, 2003), Mary Dozier (autonomous states of mind), Robert Marvin (Circle of Security) (Marvin & Whelan 2003), Phyllis Jernberg (Theraplay), Daniel Schechter (Clinician Assisted Videofeedback Exposure Sessions) (Schechter, 2003), and Joy Osofsky (Safe Start Initiative) (in Infant Mental Health, 1993. DPetersontalk 22:56, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
It's been suggested that to clarify what is and is not acceptable practice, that the following paragraph be added to the article. Please voice your comments below:
Attachment theory holds that caregiver qualities such as environmental stability, parental sensitivity, and responsiveness to children’s physical and emotional needs, consistency, and a safe and predictable environment support the development of healthy attachment. From this perspective, improving these positive caretaker and environmental qualities is the key to improving attachment. From the traditional attachment theory viewpoint, therapy for children who are maltreated and described as having attachment problems emphasizes providing a stable environment and taking a calm, sensitive, nonintrusive, nonthreatening, patient, predictable, and nurturing approach toward children (Haugaard, 2004a; Nichols, Lacher,&May, 2004). (Chaffin et al). Treatment and prevention programs that use methods congruent with attachment theory and with well established principles of child development (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry) include: Alicia Lieberman (Parent-child Psychotherapy) (Lieberman & Pawl in Infant Mental Health, 1993 )(Lieberman 2003), Stanley Greenspan (Floor Time), Daniel Hughes (Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy) (Becker-Weidman & Shell, 2005) (Hughes, 2003), Mary Dozier (autonomous states of mind), Robert Marvin (Circle of Security) (Marvin & Whelan 2003), Phyllis Jernberg (Theraplay), Daniel Schechter (Clinician Assisted Videofeedback Exposure Sessions) (Schechter, 2003), and Joy Osofsky (Safe Start Initiative) (in Infant Mental Health, 1993.
This has already been argued above. The new study by Becker-Weidman was specifically considered in the November 2006 follow up. The material is only not Chaffins because about two words were altered to create a misleading impression that Chaffin and becker-Weidman were at one. Why? Fainites 16:37, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Per consensus (five of six) above, I added this into the article. MarkWood 14:58, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
Do you guys have Chaffin or do you have some different version to me? My version includes material from 2005. My follow up report talks about Becker-Weidmans 2006 material. It's in the November 2006 issue of Child Maltreat. I am quite happy to post again all the excerpts, or e-mail my sources to anyone. If you say Chaffin was written in 2000/02 (see earlier) or 2003, (your latest claim) please give us the source for this extraordinary statement! If you say Chaffin et al did not refer to Becker-Weidmans recent study in their November 2006 follow up, please give us the source for this claim, bearing in mind that they say "The question at this point is whether the published study might modify our original statements. In our estimation, DDP still does not meet criteria as an evidence-based treatment, although the published findings do raise hopes that DDP may be promising. Examining the study, it shares many of the same limitations noted in the Task Force’s evaluation of the Myeroff study (p. 85)". This has nothing to do with consensus. Fainites 16:49, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
I think the inclusion of the agreed upon paragraph is good and adds to the article. JohnsonRon 21:36, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
I have been working through the article and it seems to me that its quite an essay. There is a lot of argument going on even in the article. For example, the last paragraph is making some unsourced comments about "Therefore there are very few practitioners of "AT" as defined in this article. Furthermore, several states have outlawed "rebirthing," and anyone using such methods would be guilty of malpractice, which is a small problem in all professions.". I had a look through the NPOV article and it seems we could probably do with just moving those argument parts out of the article and putting them in the talkpage for people to work on and source. Part of the difficulty for anyone reading this article is trying to sort the editor's arguments from the source's arguments. I really think this will help. I'll get the ball rolling with the last sentence of the article. Here it is:
"Members of those organizations are prohibited from using methods and techniques proscribed by those organizations codes of ethics and practice parameters. Violations of those standards would result in expulsion of the organization. Therefore there are very few practitioners of "AT" as defined in this article. Furthermore, several states have outlawed "rebirthing," and anyone using such methods would be guilty of malpractice, which is a small problem in all professions."
First I believe we need sources for it. Maypole 02:45, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Whats attachorg? Is that ATTacH or whatever that organisation is that uses part capitals? Didn't they used to be the home of attachment therapy but have now tried to position themselves away from it? We could get ourselves into a bit of a complicated minefield here. Sticking to sources is safest. By the way, if you or Maypole want a copy of Chaffin, you'll have to eable your e-mails or e-mail me. Fainites 14:32, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
[www.Attach.org] has a White paper, cited in this article, against the use of coercion in treatment, so that is another good source. You can read their brief position at [60] DPetersontalk 14:47, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
DP please don't interpose your comments between other editors when one editor has already replied to another as it interrupts the flow of conversation. You can always say 're your comment above' or something. Fainites 14:52, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Looking at the site, this is 'ATTACh' which I believe is controversial as they have positioned themselves away from coercive therapies, but are seen by some commentators as actually part of 'attachment therapy'. Another controversy too big and unresolvable for this litle page! Fainites 14:56, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
I see your 'bias' here now. That helps me understand your position on all these issues. Calling ATTACh controversial when it is a national professioal organization that has the support of many prominent people in the field shows a bias...almost similiar to ACT. They have a White Paper that clearly prohibits coercive treatments or methods and are in alignment with other similiar professional organizations such as APSAC, NASW, APA, AACP, etc. MarkWood 17:06, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Here is version of "Prevalence" I proposed earlier;
It is difficult to ascertain the prevalence of these therapies but they are sufficiently prevalent to have prompted reactions as outlined by Chaffin et al as follows; "The practice of some forms of these treatments has resulted in professional licensure sanctions against some leading proponents of the controversial attachment therapies. There have been cases of successful criminal prosecution and incarceration of therapists or parents using controversial attachment therapy techniques and state legislation to ban particular therapies. Position statements against using coercion or restraint as a treatment were issued by mainstream professional societies (American Psychiatric Association, 2002) and by a professional organization focusing on attachment and attachment therapy (Association for Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children [ATTACh], 2001). Despite these and other strong cautions from professional organizations, the controversial treatments and their associated concepts and foundational principles appear to be continuing among networks of attachment therapists, attachment therapy centers, caseworkers, and adoptive or foster parents (Hage, n.d.-a; Keck, n.d.)."
(WHY SO MANY QUOTES FROM JUST ONE SOURCE? THE OTHER VERSION IS BETTER THIS THIS REGARD AS BEING BROADER IN SCOPE. MarkWood 17:06, 12 May 2007 (UTC))
Chaffin describes the polarization between the proponents of ‘Attachment Therapy’ and mainstream therapies stating ‘This polarization is compounded by the fact that attachment therapy has largely developed outside the mainstream scientific and professional community and flourishes within its own networks of attachment therapists, treatment centers, caseworkers, and parent support groups. Indeed, proponents and critics of the controversial attachment therapies appear to move in different worlds.’ (DON'T SEE WHAT THIS HAS TO DO WITH HOW WIDE SPREAD IS THE PRACTICE.MarkWood 17:06, 12 May 2007 (UTC)) A particular concern of both Chaffin et al and Prior and Glaser is the use of the Internet to advertise these therapies and the use of unscientific and 'wildly inclusive' lists of 'symptoms' (Prior and Glaser). According to Chaffin et al 'These types of lists are so nonspecific that high rates of false-positive diagnoses are virtually certain. (THIS ISN'T ABOUT HOW WIDE SPREAD IS AT MarkWood 17:06, 12 May 2007 (UTC))
Posting these types of lists on Web sites that also serve as marketing tools may lead many parents or others to conclude inaccurately that their children have attachment disorders.' Many of the behaviors in the lists are likely to be the consequences of neglect and abuse rather than located within the attachment paradigm Descriptions of children are frequently highly perjorative and 'demonising'.
According to Chaffin et al 'Proponents of controversial attachment therapies commonly assert that their therapies, and their therapies alone, are effective for children with attachment disorders and that more traditional treatments are either ineffective or harmful’. They also express concern over claims by therapies to be 'evidence based' or indeed the 'only' evidence based therapy when the Task Force found no credible evidence base for any such therapy so advertised. Prior and Glaser (2006) state ‘The practice of holding therapy is not confined to the USA.’ And give an example of a center in the UK practising ‘therapeutic holding’ of the across the lap variety.p263.
The advocacy group ACT claim "Attachment Therapy is a growing, underground movement for the 'treatment' of children who pose disciplinary problems to their parents or caregivers." Fainites 14:19, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Too much emphasis on one source and irrelvant quotes. Keep this section focused on the main issue: to what extent is this practiced? All professional orgs prohibit practices as defined in this article. AT or rebirthing, or holding therapy as defined is coercive an prohibited by APA, NASW, ATTACh, etc. and rebirthing is illegal in various states. DPetersontalk 15:03, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
need page # DPetersontalk 15:03, 12 May 2007 (UTC)'need page #DPetersontalk 15:03, 12 May 2007 (UTC)'Is this a quote or a summary?DPetersontalk 15:03, 12 May 2007 (UTC)'what does this have to do with prevalence? Might belong in another section DPetersontalk 15:03, 12 May 2007 (UTC)'Again, this does not belong here. DPetersontalk 15:03, 12 May 2007 (UTC). same hereDPetersontalk 15:03, 12 May 2007 (UTC) Too much emphasis on Chaffin. There are many other sources that should be cited...see version proposed below for a more balance and comprehensive version. DPetersontalk 14:57, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Too much emphasis on one source and irrelvant quotes. Keep this section focused on the main issue: to what extent is this practiced? All professional orgs prohibit practices as defined in this article. AT or rebirthing, or holding therapy as defined is coercive an prohibited by APA, NASW, ATTACh, etc. and rebirthing is illegal in various states. DPetersontalk 15:03, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
I have removed all your interspersed comments as they make it difficult for other editors to read. You know very well that all page numbers have been given previously.It is simply not necessary to create confusion throughout another editors proposed edits with facile demands for page numbers.Fainites 15:14, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
I added back those comments so that we can see what they are in reference to. Removing them makes it impossible to follow the comments and is like deleting another editors edits. This is the approach you proposed and have used. It worked well before and continues to be a good one for readability. Let's keep cool heads here and Assume Good Faith JohnsonRon 16:02, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
There are no reliable statistics on how many professionals actually practice "Attachment Therapy" or "rebirthing as it is also known. However, as defined in this article, "Attachment Therapy" involves the use of practices prohibited by a large number of professional organizations such as the following: American Psychological Association[[61]], National Association of Social Workers[[62]], American Professional society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) [[63]], Association for the Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrry ("Practice Parameter for the Assessment of Children and Adolescent with Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy and Early Childhood" in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, vol 44, Nov 2005 and at [[64]]) , and the American Psychiatric Association. [[65]].
Members of those organizations are prohibited from using methods and techniques proscribed by those organizations codes of ethics and practice parameters. Violations of those standards would result in expulsion of the organization. Therefore there are very few practitioners of "AT" as defined in this article. Furthermore, several states have outlawed "rebirthing," and anyone using such methods would be guilty of malpractice, which is a small problem in all professions. DPetersontalk 14:55, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
AT is not simply coercive treatment. Chaffin discuss a number of what they consider to be attachment therapy proponents who do not use coercive methods. the coercive methods are the most concerning ones and the ones most easily banned or regulated against. Fainites 15:16, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
'ATTACHMENT THERAPY' as described in this article is a coercive treatment approach. Coercion is not allowed by APA, NASW, ATTACh, or APSAC, among others. This article is not about Chaffin or the Task Force. If you wish to write an article about APSAC, then that is the place for all your quotes and citings. A balanced article must have multiple sources, as does the proposed section above. JohnsonRon 16:00, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
Hello I have been reading the literature sent to me by Fainites. Its very helpful. I have altered my view of the whole subject accordingly. I would place the word "Traditional" in quotes. I think it is more meaningful to have it there.
There are a whole range of views though. The literature I was sent is scholarly for the most part. That is only one aspect of the viewpoints, and it only infers the whole story. For example, Chiffrin says that the controversy has centered on the most worrying interventions. But the paper goes on to say that the whole subject is criticised because a lot of the theories are up the spout, and a lot of other unnamed unvalidated methods are used in addition. This latter aspect does need to be covered in the article. Its crucial from the science (majority) point of view because anything unvalidated is considered unethical, wrong, potentially dangerous in itself, according to the accepted wisdom of clinical practice. Wikipedia RS seems to accept all scholarly and non scholarly sources as long as they are reliable for the views being presented. So now I think its just a matter of including all the unvalidated methods mentioned in the literature. For sure, there must be some valid way of doing AT and to be fair we really have to make the distinction between the valid aspects of dealing with attachment, and dodgy and coercive methods. I think the best way would be to
How does that sound to all here? Maypole 11:31, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
sounds great to me. but let me make sure I've understood. Are you saying this article should attempt to cover the whole subject of all treatments for attachment disorders, or purported attachment disorders, the good the bad and the ugly? Currently the article really only attmpts to deal with the 'subset' which Chaffin describes as 'popularly known' as attachment therapy. Or are we sticking with that but being a little more expansive about what are and what aren't unvalidated methods and going into underlying theories more? Fainites 11:50, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
Also on sources, you can cite a source as a source. But you have to be careful for what. For example, Prior and Glaser are a source for saying certain therapies are scientifically validated. But a therapy that claims all by itself to be scientifically validated could only be a source for saying it claims to be scientifically validated. Is this correct? Fainites 12:04, 13 May 2007 (UTC)
. If these aren't coercive, intrusive, and unacceptable modalities, I just don't know what is. DPetersontalk 19:06, 13 May 2007 (UTC)"Attachment Therapy", (also known as attachment therapy, holding therapy, rebirthing therapy, or corrective attachment therapy) is an ambiguous term often used to describe a variety of controversial, non-mainstream "treatments" for children allegedly suffering from attachment disorder which is itself an ambiguous term. The treatments often involve coercive and intrusive methods including variants of holding therapy or rebirthing or rage-reduction. Chaffin et al (2006), having said "The terms attachment disorder, attachment problems, and attachment therapy, although increasingly used, have no clear, specific, or consensus definitions", (p 83) attempt to describe this subset as follows: "The attachment therapy controversy has centred most broadly on the use of what is known as “holding therapy” (Welch, 1988 [3]) and coercive, restraining, or aversive procedures such as deep tissue massage, aversive tickling, punishments related to food and water intake, enforced eye contact, requiring children to submit totally to adult control over all their needs, barring children’s access to normal social relationships outside the primary parent or caretaker, encouraging children to regress to infant status, reparenting, attachment parenting, or techniques designed to provoke cathartic emotional discharge. Variants of these treatments have carried various labels that appear to change frequently. They may be known as “rebirthing therapy,” “compression holding therapy,” “corrective attachment therapy,” “the Evergreen model,” “holding time,” or “rage-reduction therapy” (Cline, 1991; [4] Lien, 2004 [5] Levy & Orlans, 1998,[6] Welch, 1988 [3]).
Hi. I made an adjustment or two in the lead. I couldn't find any information from the links of quackwatch or ACT to say that they are trying to discredit particular unvalidated methods, so I improved that statement. Also I think the suggestion to clarify the theory word from the therapy word will also be useful for making the article more readable. Maypole 05:27, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
Good edit. I completely agree. This particular phrase has been discussed before. I checked through the list given by ACT and most of it seems a true bill! There are no mainstream, validated therapies in their list. The controversy on this page is about DDP which may have a bit of a raw deal being included in the list. The last sentence about 'taking care' was my edit. Its a bit OR but it seems fair as DDP certainly object to their inclusion in the list and wouldn't be right to give the impression that Wiki endorses their list. Fainites 08:02, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
Thanks. I think there will be a clearer way to distinguish between good ideas and bad according to source. DPP is listed, and again it is known as an unvalidated therapy even though it may have an ongoing research base and I havn't seen any evidence for it looking like a pseudoscience. I think the article as a whole is qualified enough to include it. (There are many qualifiers in the article). The way to help though is to make sure we have all the related interventions associated with AT. Perhaps more importantly the literature seems to distinguish between flakes and legitimates so it would certainly be a good idea to say more about the behaviour/views and outlook of the flaky ones. I think thats the biggest distinction that will reduce the likelihood of any conflict (ie, the difference between alternative practitioners, and clinical practitioners). That would be fairer and more encyclopedic I believe. Maypole 09:03, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
Maypole, I think we need to emphasis the underlying theory and development, from Zaslow (supressed rage and catharsis), through Welch (holding time), Cline and Thomas, and the associated theoretical beliefs about developmental stages. There's alot of good stuff in Speltz about underlying theoretical beliefs and where they come from. What did you mean about the 'article' being qualified enough to include DPP. Did you mean this article or the ACT article? Also by flakes and legitimates, do you mean legitimates as in mainstream evidence based, and flakes as in AT, or are you making a distiction between legitimate AT (if there is such a thing) and extreme flaky AT? Fainites 19:03, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
Best to keep the focus on AT as described in the article...a somewhat fringe approach not sanctioned by any professional organization that uses methods prohibited by many professional organizations. JohnsonRon 21:38, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
Well it's not that fringe or there wouldn't have been such a fuss about it and alot of organisations have only brought out position statements after notorious cases and after the Chaffin report so this is all quite recent stuff and it's unlikely to disappear overnight. There's plenty of even barmier therapies out there still being practiced. Fainites 22:37, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
Actually, it can be considered fringe as no mainstream professional organization sanctions AT as defined here. ATTACh, The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, to name two, had position statements regarding this issue before APSAC did. The Chaffin report was written in 2003 and 4 and published a year later. DPetersontalk 01:38, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I see on the issue of when Chaffin was written we've gone up from 2000/02, to 2003, to 2004. Any advance on 2004? Any sources? Fainites 16:23, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
If I can chime in here I'd like to say that the citations in the article, including Dr. Becker-Weidman's, meet the Wikipedia standard for being verifiable and so are both relevant and appropriate. I still don't understand the strong objections that you have. I understand Dr. Mercer's objections as she is a leader of ACT...The material is in professional peer-reviewed publications and is evidence-based, Craven & Lee identify it as such. Most importantly, the material is consistent with Wikipedia policy/standard of being a verifiable source. RalphLendertalk 16:31, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
While I think the recent edits (May 14) by Maypole & Fainities are ok, I urge you to first discuss changes on this talk page as the tag at the top of this page suggests:
This is a controversial topic, which may be under dispute.
Please read this talk page and discuss substantial changes here before making them.
Make sure you supply full citations when adding information to highly controversial articles.
Making unliateral changes, especially by relatively new editors (Maypole started 4/29/07 and has primarily limited edits to this article while Fainities has been around longer, since around 2/17/07 and has edited a broader range of articles; primarily articles about EMDR, NLP, and this article) is not a good way to build consensus. Building agreement is important when a subject matter is as contentious as is this one. DPetersontalk 13:59, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
I believe several admins have suggested using WP:BRD as an excellent editing guideline. The only thing I would add to BRD, would be, don't revert unless you are willing to discuss why you reverted and are also willing to help develop a compromise version where applicable. Lsi john 19:14, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
There are no reliable statistics on how many professionals actually practice Attachment Therapy or "rebirthing" as it is also known. However, as defined in this article, Attachment Therapy involves the use of practices prohibited by a large number of professional organizations such as the following: the American Psychological Association [6], the National Association of Social Workers [7], the American Professional society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) [8], Association for the Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrry ("Practice Parameter for the Assessment of Children and Adolescent with Reactive Attachment Disorder of Infancy and Early Childhood" in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, vol 44, Nov 2005 and at [9], and the American Psychiatric Association. [10].
Members of those organizations are prohibited from using methods and techniques proscribed by these organizations' codes of ethics and practice parameters. Violations of the standards results in expulsion of the organization. Therefore there are very few practitioners of "AT" as defined in this article. Furthermore, several states have outlawed rebirthing, making anyone using such methods guilty of malpractice.
Although rebirthing has been outlawed in a couple of states it is legal in most of the US. And coercive therapies are legal in all states. And there is no licensing board that forbids rebirthing or coercive therapies. In fact many boards give CEUs for training in attachment therapy.
And the start of the paragraph states the number of practioners is unknown and then at the end it says that there are very few. This is a contradiction. Judging by the amount of websites that come up by googling 'attachment therapy' it seems there are very many practioners. Well at least there are a lot of website advertizing AT. FatherTree 15:23, 14 May 2007 (UTC)
I didn't make any substantive changes to that paragraph. I kindly checked your links for you! Assume Good Faith Fainites 17:19, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I've moved DP's list of 'congruent' therapies into a seperate section as it doesn't really fit into any other section. My view is that we don't need a list of mainstream therapies at all and certainly not ones that are merely 'congruent'. If we do have a list it needs to be a list of mainstream, accepted, evidence based treatemnts for recognised attachment disorders about which we need to be pretty certain, from verified and credible sources. Do we then also have a list of 'attachment therapies', or rather therapies considered by verified and credible sources to be attachment therapies? Do we outline the controversy of any therapy stuck in between as it were? Fainites 08:48, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
"Dr. Becker-Weidman (2006b) believed the report misrepresented DDP and his center as an example of dangerous or coercive techniques. We have been unable to locate this representation in the Task Force report. In fact, the term dyadic developmental psychotherapy is not mentioned anywhere in the body of the Task Force report. Dr. Becker-Weidman is cited three times in the body of the report, none of which refer to coercive techniques. The first citation references his Web site’s assertion that traditional therapies are either ineffective or harmful (p. 78). The second citation references his recommendation that children be encouraged to regress to an earlier age as part of treatment (p. 79). The third citation references his assertions, which we believe are unsupported, about practicing an evidence-based treatment (p. 85). Regarding the issue of empirical support, it is encouraging to see that outcome research on DDP was recently published in a peer-reviewed journal. This is an important first step toward learning the facts about DDP outcomes. We congratulate Dr. Becker-Weidman on this work and hope he will continue to expand these efforts. The published study was not available until after the Task Force report was in press, so its findings were not discussed in the report. The question at this point is whether the published study might modify our original statements. In our estimation, DDP still does not meet criteria as an evidence-based treatment, although the published findings do raise hopes that DDP may be promising. Examining the study, it shares many of the same limitations noted in the Task Force’s evaluation of the Myeroff study (p. 85)."
Also, read the discussion about Wikipedia policy regarding all views...this really answers your question best. [[67]] RalphLendertalk 16:33, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
According to your talk page you work with adopted children is that correct?
Why are you reluctant to answer this question? You might have insight that others do not have. Please answer. FatherTree 22:49, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
substantative changes to the article should be discussed here first to build agreement. RalphLendertalk 15:44, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
They were very minor changes. Do some editors feel they own the article? FatherTree 18:39, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Can we get on with editing please and stop going round in circles. This may help everybody see why it's quite important to tackle the underlying theories and priciples of AT and not pretend it's all in the past or doesn't really exist. [69]Fainites 21:03, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Why does the natl assoc and the utah assoc of social workers to to the same link? Fain, can you check this out. Did DP make another mistake in the links? thanks FatherTree 21:26, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Fain can you check out those links. they are the same but DP thinks they are 2 different statements. maybe you can explain it to him FatherTree 22:32, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Well its weird isn't it? The first one says NASW, and 'whereas' etc which is really a very broad short statement about restraint in general, but when you click on the 'online text' you get taken to the Utah chapter again. It's not really good enough. If there is a position statement for the whole NASW then thats the link we ought to have. I'll see if I can find anything from NASW.Fainites 22:45, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
I've just come across this cite:
"Lee, R. E., & Craven, P. A. (2007, in press). Reply to Pignotti and Mercer: Holding Therapy and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy are Not Supported and Acceptable Social Work Interventions. Research on Social Work Practice."
See http://www.chs.fsu.edu/college/cv/vita-rlee.pdf
Does anyone know what the article says? It may be relevant here. StokerAce 00:20, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
It meets the Wikipedia standard of being Wikipedia:Verifiability and as such is as relevant and valid as all other references and citations. DPetersontalk 00:31, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
What are you talking about? This is a new Craven and Lee piece. I'm just asking what it says. Can anyone get a copy? Maybe Dr. Lee would send a draft?
DPeterson are you OK? You don't seem like yourself these days. StokerAce 00:37, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Personal Attacks and harrassment are not condoned on Wikipedia. DPetersontalk 00:42, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
I've not harrassed you in any way nor made Personal Attacks. You have had a history of founded conflict on several pages. I've asked you to please stop. I am now asking again. Thank you. DPetersontalk 01:31, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Well, you did accuse me of being a sockpuppet or meatpuppet: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AMediation_Cabal%2FCases%2F2006-10-07_Advocates_for_Children_in_Therapy&diff=82802607&oldid=82696095 StokerAce 01:48, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Thank you for raising the issue. I was not going to bring that up here, but since you did, I will respond. That went back to 2006...I see you still carry a grudge and I do note that here now. In fact, the administration involved raised that issue first:
I'm comparing edit histories right now, and to me, it looks like Shotwell is unrelated, but I think Sarner and StokerAce may be related. If Sarner and StokerAce agree, I'd like to call for a CheckUser. Nwwaew(My talk page) 13:51, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
I'm almost certain now that Sarner and StokerAce are related- both of them have edit histories in all caps regarding talk pages. I'm going to file a report at Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets. Nwwaew(My talk page) 14:05, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
Request filed here. Nwwaew(My talk page) 14:30, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
DPetersontalk 01:55, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
It seems that there is a new Craven and Lee piece coming out:
"Lee, R. E., & Craven, P. A. (2007, in press). Reply to Pignotti and Mercer: Holding Therapy and Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy are Not Supported and Acceptable Social Work Interventions. Research on Social Work Practice."
See http://www.chs.fsu.edu/college/cv/vita-rlee.pdf
Does anyone know what the article says? It may be relevant here. Would Dr. Lee send a copy? StokerAce 00:48, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
The 2006 Article is excellent and on point. It certainly meets the Wikipedia standard of being 'verifiable', which is the primary standard for inclusion in an article. I suggest reading it as it semas some editors are not familiar with this. DPetersontalk 01:33, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Yes, it was good. So good that I'm quite looking forward to reading the 2007 piece. Perhaps Fainites can get a copy. StokerAce 01:51, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
For those who can't get the Lee & Craven (in press), I can summarize it as saying,"don't say 'ain't' when I say 'is'." It does not address the criticisms-- a not unfamiliar situation-- but reiterates the original claims.Part of the problem is a failure to read background material even when reminded to do so, again a familiar concern.Jean Mercer 13:52, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Incidentally, one of the most important rules of science, or any type of systematic, logical investigation, is that you can't cherry-pick. In order to reach a legitimate conclusion, all information must be considered-- in fact, the effort is to find ways to reject a hypothesis, not to trawl for support.This is especially important when the goal of work is to provide support for families and for children's mental health. Mistakes can cause unnecessary suffering, whether they are mistakes of design or lack of transparency in reporting (cf. the TREND guidelines).Jean Mercer 14:00, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
As the writer of the letter they are responding to, your comments are not NPOV and may be OR...but in any event, are clearly self-promoting. RalphLendertalk 14:13, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Well in order to understand this we need the Mercer/Pignotti article and the Lee/Craven reply. I understood from what was said in this page that the Mercer/Pignotti article hadn't been published yet. Perhaps Jean Mercer could let us have a copy. Fainites 14:30, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
I don't know how to do this--- is there a way I can send it to you, Fainites, with the proviso that this is a prepublication draft, so no page numbers? I have a copy of the Lee & Craven response but I think you'll have to get that from L & C-- it's not really mine to distribute. 72.73.200.120 14:42, 16 May 2007 (UTC)OOps, thought I had logged on-- J.M.
Thanks! My e-mail is enabled.Fainites 14:47, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
In case anyone hasn't seen the original Craven Lee article which has been, in my view misleadingly, cited as saying that DDP is 'evidence-based' in company with Leiberman no less, what they actually did was set out categories. Only the first three are really relevant here. The first three are :
- Category 1:Well-supported, efficacious treatment - 1. The treatment has a sound theoretical basis in generally accepted - psychological principles. - 2. A substantial clinical, anecdotal literature exists indicating the - treatment’s efficacy with at-risk children and foster children. - 3. The treatment is generally accepted in clinical practice for at-risk - children and foster children. - 4. There is no clinical or empirical evidence or theoretical basis indicating - that the treatment constitutes a substantial risk of harm to - those receiving it, compared to its likely benefits. - 5. The treatment has a manual that clearly specifies the components - and administration characteristics of the treatment that allows - for replication. - 6. At least two randomized, controlled outcome studies have demonstrated - the treatment’s efficacy with at-risk children and foster - children. This means the treatment was demonstrated to be - better than placebo or no different or better than an already established - treatment. - 7. If multiple outcome studies have been conducted, the large majority - of outcome studies support the efficacy of the treatment. - Category 2: Supported and probably efficacious - 1. The treatment has a sound theoretical basis in generally accepted - psychological principles. - 2. A substantial clinical, anecdotal literature exists indicating the - treatment’s efficacy with at-risk children and foster children. - 3. The treatment is generally accepted in clinical practice for at risk - children and foster children. - 4. There is no clinical or empirical evidence or theoretical basis indicating - that the treatment constitutes a substantial risk of harm to - those receiving it, compared to its likely benefits. - 5. The treatment has a manual that clearly specifies the components - and administration characteristics of the treatment that allows - for implementation. - 6. At least two studies utilizing some form of control without randomization - (e.g., wait list, untreated group, placebo group) have - established the treatment’s efficacy over the passage of time, efficacy - over placebo, or found it to be comparable to or better than - already established treatment. - 7. If multiple treatment outcome studies have been conducted, the - overall weight of evidence supported the efficacy of the treatment. - Category 3: Supported and acceptable treatment - 1. The treatment has a sound theoretical basis in generally accepted - psychological principles. - 2. A substantial clinical, anecdotal literature exists indicating the - treatment’s efficacy with at-risk children and foster children. - 3. The treatment is generally accepted in clinical practice for at-risk - children and foster children. - 4. There is no clinical or empirical evidence or theoretical basis indicating - that the treatment constitutes a substantial risk of harm to - those receiving it, compared to its likely benefits. - 5. The treatment has a manual that clearly specifies the components - and administration characteristics of the treatment that allows - for replication. - 6a. At least one group study (controlled or uncontrolled), or a series - of single subject studies have demonstrated the efficacy of the - treatment with at-risk children and foster children; - or - 6b. A treatment that has demonstrated efficacy with other populations - has a sound theoretical basis for use with at-risk children - and foster children, but has not been tested or used extensively - with these populations. - 7. If multiple treatment outcome studies have been conducted, the - overall weight of evidence supported the efficacy of the treatment. -
- - Both Dyadic developmental Psychotherapy (Becker-Weidman) and Holding Therapy (Myeroff) came into category three. Leiberman of course was in category one. The ground rules for category three do not in any event constitute 'evidence-based' as understood by the scientific community. Further, to cite Becker-Weidman and Leiberman in the same breath as confirmed as 'evidence-based' by this study as was done on this page is in the circumstances misleading. It is a source for what it is. DDP and Holding Therapy come into category 3. 'Supported and Acceptable'. You will note for category three the lack of any requirement for 'at least two randomized controlled trials' as in category one and 'at least two studies using some form of control without randomization....' etc as in category two. Only category one would possibly meet the definition 'evidence based' as per accepted standards as quoted by Chaffin and the AACAP (and any other scientific body). Sorry for such a long edit. Fainites 14:47, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
On POV and OR, at least JeanMercer makes no bones about who she is. Everybody has a POV. It's the article that musn't have a POV. On OR, if her work is published in peer reviewed journals anybody is at liberty to cite it. What OR means is she can't go on the article and say 'I'm Mercer and I say', that's all. Fainites 15:03, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
The article meets the Wikipedia standard of being a reliable and verifiable source...so I don't see why the continued argument. The argument seems more to represent self-promotion ss the writer of the letter Craven & Lee are responding to, the comments are not NPOV and may be OR...but in any event, are clearly self-promoting. RalphLendertalk 15:48, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
The article is a proper source. However, its conclusions were misleadingly presented and my attempt to put in an accurate version of its conclusions was repeatedly reverted. Also, a peer reviewed article criticising the article will also be a source. And so on Fainites 16:09, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
By the way, I'm happy to e-mail the first Craven and Lee article to anyone if they want it. Jeanmercer has offered to send her reply and I have contacted Robert E.Lee (sic) about their reply to the reply. Fainites 16:16, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
I disagree that the article's conclusions were misleadingly presented. This is your POV, and you are entitled to it. Getting Mercer's response or other letters probably falls under the heading of OR and is not acceptable in this encyclopedia for article. I think you should read the above discussion [[70]] which outlines that all views, if verifiable, are allowed and to be included in articles. RalphLendertalk 16:37, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
If Mercers/Pignottis article on Craven and Lees article is published in a peer reviewed journal, its a suitable source. What do you mean its 'OR'. I really don't understand this one.Fainites 16:51, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
You've already made the same point. Getting Mercer's opinion and ideas would be WP:OR. The most relevant point is that I think you should read the above discussion [[71]] which outlines that all views, if verifiable, are allowed and to be included in articles. RalphLendertalk 21:23, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Not if its published in a peer reviewed journal.Fainites 22:45, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
Because of the contentious reverting I've protected the page. Please discuss disputes here and seek consensus. Let me or any other admin know when there's an agreement. ·:·Will Beback ·:· 06:31, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
The National Association of Social Workers 7
((editprotected)) I want an admin to make a change for me. There is an error on a citation. FatherTree 12:32, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
I don't understand this resistance to providing decent links. This isn't a request for a change! Just to fix your links! The link does not take you to position statement! Lets fix the link so it does. I fixed one for you already. We really don't need to vote on this.Fainites 14:50, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
I can see that RL and DP are not willing to cooperate. They will not discuss. And they are pushing their POVs. And yes DP reverted many times the other day. Where do we go with this now? FatherTree 15:58, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Well I think we post here what sensible edits we think appropriate. If there's the usual lack of sensible discussion and 'consensus' against even straight forward, verified and credibly sourced edits we may have to take the matter higher up for resolution. Maypole seems to think there's some major stuff still needs doing so it'll be interesting to see what comes up there, and I want to greatly expand history and underlying theory and principles. You seem to be working on prevalence. Is there some way of finding out how many states have banned what?Fainites 16:07, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
Maybe the best way to sort all this out is to get an administrator involved and/or mediation. What do other's think? How about discussing this here and putting a summary in the section below?RalphLendertalk 16:54, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
I think having an administrator and moving to mediation or arbitration, if necessary, would be the best course of action here to resolve some of the disagreements that just seem to go round and round. RalphLendertalk 16:54, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
I'm not sure that everyone understands the options here. Mediation is a voluntary process in which a dispute is handled by discussing the problems with a neutral 3rd party, and either finding a solution amongst yourselves or possibly also getting advice from the moderator. Arbitration is a binding procedure that can be involuntary. It's reserved for situations which can't be handled by ordinary dispute resolutions methods and may result in editors being restricted or even banned. A request for arbitration is neither appropriate at this time nor would it be accepted by the ArbCom. Luckily things aren't that bad here. I urge editor who have expressed opposition to mediation to rethink their choice. Mediation can be helpful and is not stressful. Another realistic options is a request for comment (WP:RFC), but due to the esoteric nature of the topic it might not get much response. Straw polls (like this one) are sometimes used to decide what the consensus is on an issue, but they have to be handled carefully. See WP:Straw poll. ·:·Will Beback ·:· 23:54, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
...and following it is not optional or open to argument. The beginning section of this article (for a start) shows clearly the author's opinion and needs to be rewritten in an NPOV manner. I also refuse to believe that the meaning of the term "Attachment Therapy" is entirely elusive. Granted that there may be several definitions, would it not be better to give all those definitions to the reader rather than just saying "There is no generally accepted definition of Attachment Therapy" and leaving it at that.
As to the dispute - administrators are just users who can do a couple of extra things such as delete articles. The dispute resolution process is described at Wikipedia:Resolving disputes. But any resolution has to end up with the article in a NPOV state. Herostratus 22:23, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
DPetersontalk 00:14, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
Just to let you know, theres an RfC on DPeterson et al. Fainites 06:16, 17 May 2007 (UTC)
I'm going to file a formal mediation request per Addhoc's suggestion on the RfC. In order to file the request, we need to narrow down the exact issues in need of mediation. All we need is a list of questions without any commentary. (See [78]). We can mediate issues across several articles, so the questions need not be limited to this particular article. Below, please list whatever issues are in need of mediation.
There is the question of who needs to be included in mediation. The most active editors in the last few weeks have been, myself, Fainites, StokerAce, DPeterson, RalphLender, JonesRD, SamDavidson, and JohnsonRon. There is also Jean Mercer, FCYTravis, Fathertree, and Sarner. Sarner dosn't appear active and FCYTravis has always refused mediation about these things on the grounds that it's a matter for arbcom. If you want to be included in mediation, then make it known. It is better to err on the side of inclusiveness in order to solve these issues in one fell swoop.
Once this list is more or less complete, I'll file the request. Let's just make the list without any argument or commentary -- we will have plenty of time to get our point across during mediation. Please try to make your questions precise, focused on a single issue, and to the point. shotwell 00:11, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Yes, I would like to participate-- see comment on my talk page.Jean Mercer 14:44, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Fainites 10:35, 20 May 2007 (UTC)I
(If I'm repeating issues here, feel free to say so and we can cut them down) Fainites 10:44, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
The issues you are raising are the same ones your group has raised in the past: These very same issues were resolved previously and then raised again. See, for example, [[83]], [[84]], [[85]], [[86]] DPetersontalk 01:22, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
I wasn't involved in any of the previous mediations/RfC's etc. Now they've all been cited in the RfC it looks to me as if nothings ever really been resolved. Fainites 10:35, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Well I agree with you Maypole that the practise guidelines and policies are straight forward but have not been followed in this article. The trouble is that any attempt to remedy this is 'voted' off by 'consensus' and any attempt to edit the obvious abuses are reverted. So whilst your broad statement is correct, some kind of adjudication is clearly required. Fainites 14:41, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Curious, a discussion of the meaning of consensus that i put right here seems to have vanished. Jean Mercer 14:56, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Stick it in again. It may have been an edit conflict, ie two trying edit at the same time. Fainites 15:12, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
The issues you are raising are the same ones various members of your group have raised in the past several times. These are not new issues and have been mediated before, and the actors are largely the same group: These very same issues were resolved previously and then raised again. See, for example, [[87]], [[88]], [[89]], [[90]] 'See RfC [[91]] Where the discussion describes this repeated and recurring conflict in detail.' DPetersontalk 14:47, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Hi Maypole. Do you have any particular issues you think ought to be resolved in mediation? If we create a comprehensive list we can then refine it. Just add them to the list above started by Shotwell.Fainites 14:56, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
These issues have repeatedly been raised, mediated, and then resovled, only to be re-raised by the same loosely affiliated group. This group's members primarily edit this and related pages. See: [[93]] for a table that shows the group's members edits. Mercer has a financial interest in the subject: she is a leader of the advocacy group Advocates for Children in Therapy, which promotes her book. She recently has made a career of sorts with this group and publications sponsored/promoted by them and their postions. JonesRDtalk 15:07, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
As stated above, these issues have been raised repeatedly by a loosly connected group of editors who share a POV identical with some of the advocacy group Advocates For Children in Therapy, of which some of this group are leaders. Let the RfC [[94]] run its source. The outside view of Hipocrite [[95]] are strongly supported by a broad and uninvolved group of editors...suggesting that this is not a "real" dispute, but is driven by an advocacy POV postion shared by a group (some of whom are leaders of ACT) JonesRDtalk 18:42, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
There can be an excellent reason for the presence of uninvolved editors-- that is, we have no actual interest in the mechanism of Wiki, but are concerned about impressions given to the public on specific topics. My own interest is in public education about mental health, and I believe Wiki is a source of that information which should be kept as accurate as possible. The potential impact of misinformation and disinformation with respect to this topic is enormous, unlike the situation for topics like Star Trek.Jean Mercer 19:40, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Well I don't share a POV identical to ACT. I've already said I thought their inclusion of DDP and possibly Theraplay in their list of 'AT by another name' was unfair and I disapprove of their list of adjunct therapies named as 'quackery' on the basis of Quackwatch. I e-mailed them about this. I understand from earlier in the Talkpage that StokerAce had also raised similar concerns with them. Its probably true to say, however, that the disparate collection of editors you now call a 'group' do share a 'POV' if you like to call it that, as to what is meant by 'evidence based'. I am more than willing to provide decent sources as to the generally accepted meaning of evidence-based. Further, JeanMercer is quite right. Wiki shouldn't operate like an arcane cult for the cognoscenti. I would hope that more psychologists join in. They can always be helped on the technicalities. Fainites 19:50, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Just to let you know, I now have the Pignotti/Mercer critique of Craven/Lee and Craven/Lees reply. Many thanks to the authors for kindly letting us see these. When we start actually editing this page again I shall be happy to show these for the purpose of editing this page only (as they're not yet published).Fainites 20:08, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Lsi this bit comes from an earlier thread on the talkpage where Craven and Lee 2006 is discussed. These two 2007 ones are about to be published any minute now (metaphorically speaking) in a journal as one is a response to a published article and the other is the original authors reply. So we thought it might help resolve our debate about whether DDP is evidence based to have a quick look. We can't use them as refs until they're actually published though. Fainites 21:10, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
Actually, it is not nonsense. In fact, ethical standards of the APA would require reporting such conflict of interests as Mercer has here as a leader of ACT with a financial interest in the "dispute". And, it is against Wikipedia standards and practice to self-promote as Mercer is doing. DPetersontalk 23:48, 20 May 2007 (UTC)
You are avoiding the point here regarding Mercer's financial interests and conflict of interest. DPetersontalk 01:03, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
In point of fact, I am the only editor here whose identity, background, training, and financial or other interests are completely transparent, and i use my real name with the intention of making them so. One person who is associated with this argument has even seen my children's birth certificates. Lsi john, if you don't mind, I'm "she". If you'll look at some history you'll see that there was considerable discussion of this point at one time, and, believe it or not, disagreement.Jean Mercer 12:23, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Thanks, FT-- I suppose it's not necessarily true that people who are false in one thing are false in all, but it makes ya wonder. No, I won't give up. Don't you, either--Jean Mercer 13:27, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
I'm really not sure it is self-promotion anyway. JeanMercers book is not cited in this article. I haven't checked but I'd be suprised if it was JeanMercer who put her name in the ACT article. How does JeanMercer have a financial interest in 'this dispute'? How does it benefit her one way or the other if the AT and ACT articles are factual and correct? Would somebody who had, for example written a biography of Charles Dickens be conflicted out of helping edit the Charles Dickens page, provided they weren't using it as an opportunity to plug their biography over the other 600? Perhaps an admin can help us on this once we get into mediation.Fainites 14:28, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
The discussion in the section above is very informative. See: [[96]] MarkWood 15:26, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Well I was quite happy to leave DDP out altogether, but you would insist on it going in 'as personally approved by Chaffin et al' or whatever the wording was. We have to decide these issues one way or another. And no they haven't all been decided before. Mostly they weren't decided upon, and as far as I'm concerned, alot of the issues have come up while I've been editing and I wasn't involved in any previous mediations/RfC's or whatever. Either mediation, or if people refuse to mediate, it has to be Arbcom. We can't argue round in circles till Kingdom come. We can't even agree to fix a broken link!Fainites 21:10, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Just to elaborate on FatherTree's reference to medical professionals and its implications: there may be some medical people among those involved here, but Becker-Weidman is not one of them. His licensure is in clinical social work, with a doctorate in "human development" and a dissertation on adolescent drug abuse, if my memory serves. These are perfectly legitimate credentials, but they are not medical, and the expert witness web site that says his expertise is in child psychiatry is incorrect. If anyone looks at his web site, they would be well advised to look into the actual significance of the various board qualifications and so on. This does not really matter, except that there seemed to be some assumptions being made that might lead people to infer particular kinds of expertise. Actually medical training would in this case possibly be of less value than membership in the Society for Research in Child Development and mastery of some statistical concepts.Jean Mercer 21:27, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Regarding JeanMercers career being built on ACT, according to her CV to which you so helpfully provided a link in the ACT page in support of your edit in the introduction that she's not 'a licenced mental health provider', [97]she appears to have been a Professor of Psychology for over 25 years and is in addition a consulting editor to a well known journal and on the boards of a number of associations about child development matters and has a broad range of publications to her name, most of which do not relate to AT. It would appear that Mercers career was long 'built' when DDP was just a twinkle in Hughes eye. Can you please stop these unpleasant, hysterical and possibly libellous personal attacks and decide whether or not you agree to mediation. Fainites 21:23, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Please will all involved editors indicate here if they are willing to agree to formal mediation. We need to make a decision as to whether its to be mediation or not. Fainites 21:05, 21 May 2007 (UTC)
Just to make it clear here for any passing interested editors, the allegation at the RfC is not merely of possible sockpuppetry, it is also meat puppetry and/or operating as a cohesive group in order to undermine or disregard Wiki policies (in broad terms). It is not, in the view of many editors, a matter that has previously been resolved. Fainites 06:06, 23 May 2007 (UTC)
For anyone who hasn't read it, here is the link to the policy. [98] The first paragraph is instructive:
As is the sentence from living biographies:
And a passage on defining COI.:
Do people think that this issue should also be resolved in any mediation? Fainites 12:27, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
Clearly Mercer, and now Sarner, have a conflict of interest. The facts are:
Their "careers" in this area are built on the advocacy work of ACT, which actively pursues and fans this dispute for it's own purposes. They benefit from this. RalphLendertalk 13:42, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
Is that a yes or no to a) mediation, and b) including this topic then? Fainites 13:47, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
I don't think it is necessary, unless DPeterson et al. raise the issue with respect to Mercer. If they do, then I think it is worth raising the issue of Dr. Becker-Weidman's contributions as well as those by various anonymous editors that promote DDP and denigrate ACT. StokerAce 13:53, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
Please note my comments on the ACT page.Beyond that, I see no point in being drawn into defending myself against anonymous critics who are unfamiliar with infant mental health practices.Jean Mercer 14:22, 22 May 2007 (UTC) By the way, that c.v. they have must be from 3 or 4 years ago-- lots of water under the bridge since then.Jean Mercer 14:35, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
OK. I suppose though by saying these articles have all been written to a pro-DPP slant, regardless of evidence from sources, (and that going back in history the progenitor of this was one AWeidman eg [99] [100] [101] but theres loads of these), it sort of assumes a COI issue anyway. Fainites 15:15, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
Dr. Becker-Weidman isn't editing these disputed pages, so that is just a red-herring your group continues to raise to avoid directly addressing the clearly financial and other conflicts of interest that exist with Mercer and now that Sarner has been brought back, Sarner. Mercer and Sarner's conflict is quite clear as outlined above. As a leader of ACT, this is their soap-box and bully-pulpit. RalphLendertalk 15:34, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
Just as a matter of interest, on reading the above, how do you know, Ralph, that Dr Becker-Weidman isn't editing these pages? Unless of course you know JohnsonRon, DPeterson, Jones RD, SamDavidson and MarkWood. He'd be perfectly entitled to as much as anyone else, provided he abided by Wiki policies. Fainites 20:45, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
Now you are changing the subject, again. Making knowingly false accusations is a very serious infraction and a member of your group has done just that. RalphLendertalk 21:10, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
OK Shotwell. Sorry. I'm not practicing what I preach either! Enough already. Lets mediate.Fainites 21:55, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
I agree with that. But the conflict of interest present by Sarner and Mercer is an important issue that should be resolved as a first step in mediation. DPetersontalk 22:10, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
Please note that I will be away June 1-12. I would think that would be an appropriate time to discuss my possible COI, if there is to be such a discussion. I can supply a current c.v. before that time if that is desired.Jean Mercer 18:37, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
Thanks Jean, that would be helpful. Also, I understand from the ACT site that you are their professional advisor. Is that the extent of your position? Fainites 15:45, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
In the light of the continued refusal by one 'side' of this dispute to say whether they are agreed to mediation or not, (which of course does require agreement)what do editors think about the alternative of Arbcom? Fainites 17:29, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
I filed a request for formal mediation. It can be found at Wikipedia:Requests for mediation/Attachment Therapy. Additional issues can be listed under the appropriate heading. Issues should be limited to straightforward questions without any commentary.[102] shotwell 19:25, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
OK. Fainites 20:38, 22 May 2007 (UTC)
I was watching the 1969 Elvis film Change of Habit about a week ago and was surprised to see him, in his role as a doctor, treat a young girl supposed to be suffering from attachement disorder with the common restraining therapy. It was so remarkable that I wrote it down to look up to see if the article on the film mentioned its inclusion. it doesn't. Just thought it might be worth mentioning.LiPollis 08:36, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
Well really JR! Do you have to be quite so staggeringly offensive? We are supposed to be awaiting mediation you know. Fainites 20:02, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
Actually I'd also like to point out the following since you raise it:
Fainites 20:24, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
JR's comments seem on target. ACT pursues its agenda despite evidence they are just incorrect, in, for example, labeling nearly every treatment of children with attachment difficulties as AT as defined in this article, even treatments that have a clear evidence base of demonstrated effectivenss and efficacy. I think you are being too sensitive here. JR merely pointed out, correctly so, that the comment is an "interesting historical reference from 40 yrs ago." What's wrong or incorrect about that? And it is true that they do pursue an agenda and have books and materials they publish for profit and to promote their specific agenda. ACT doesn't really have a membership, does it? I see no membership figures on their site and their filings with the CO sec of state don't show any. I don't think he was starting an arguement. JR seemed to be responding to Sarner's provocation and patently false accusations...I think JR responded in a very tame and restrained way...JR is to be commended. DPetersontalk 20:50, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
As I understand it, ACT is a non-profit group, so they are not doing any of this "for profit." Perhaps one of the ACT people can clarify, though. StokerAce 21:10, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
That is another somewhat offensive remark DP, particularly from someone who cites 'personal attack' so frequently. The remark could equally as well have been made about you. Fainites 21:33, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
Calm down now. My remark above was not offensive at all. I agreed with StokerAce that ACT (via Mercer and Sarner) could provide the date requsted. I don't see how my remark applies to me...I am not part of ACT and do not base any of my career on that group, it's books, publications, or agenda. Maybe it is a good thing that the Mediation is taking a slow path if there are such volitile sensitivies still brewing. Maybe the best course is to let this lay for a while longer. DPetersontalk 21:56, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
I'm talking about your remark about 'gangs, 'chiming in'. Please try to be civil. Fainites 21:57, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
Well everybody's been waiting for mediation DP, and the issues aren't going to go away however long you wait, since they concern Wiki policies on sources. Your fervent apology is accepted. Fainites 22:11, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
Curious how nothing I say seems to get saved.Jean Mercer 22:16, 19 June 2007 (UTC) Never mind, it wasn't any more constructive than anything else here, though it was funnier.
Well say it again then! Anything for a laugh.(probably an edit conflict). Fainites 22:19, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
It looks like the gang...er your group, sorry, is all coming out here now. DPetersontalk 22:48, 19 June 2007 (UTC)
Well its just a way of avoiding dealing with the factual issues really isn't it? Accusations about gangs and the like. It means not having to deal with the point that notable, verified and credible sources consider attachment therapy to be scientifically unvalidated and that notable, verified and credible sources have traced the development of the underlying theories and ideas of AT. It's really nothing to do with ACT. The funny thing is that it's DP's er 'group' that are so keen to push ACT and indeed he started the ACT article. Just off to give myself another tattoo. Fainites 09:05, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
Who's Jack Shonkoff by the way? Fainites 09:07, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
OK. Found him on Google. In cyrillic script across the forehead I think. Fainites 09:10, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
Really people. Let's calm down and focus. Sarner made a clearly provocative and accusatory statement as he's done before and then both sides explode. Yes, Sarner made an inappropriate provocative comment. FatherTree made a false accusations of editors being sockpuppets, and then everyone began screaming. The group on one side begin defending each other and making more and more of the same comments. This does not bode well for mediation. Accusations of editors being sockpuppets, especially when the editor knows the accusation to be untrue are not productive. Making inflamatory comments and statements is also not productive. I suggest you focus on the issues. RalphLendertalk 12:50, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
DPeterson seems to be suggesting to the mediators that mediation should be delayed. [103] and [104]. I don't know whether the mediators take any notice of this, given that it's a) not a new allegation and b) comparable allegations were made in the other direction on the mediation referral itself, yet the mediation was accepted. I for one would like to get on with mediation. Otherwise the issues will continue to fester and the pages will continue to stagnate. There are offensive remarks above but I see no special sensitivities or volatility. We all know where we stand. The sooner we get on with it the better in my view. Fainites 11:06, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
DPetersontalk 11:52, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
This "therapy" meets all of the standards of pseudoscience (or pseudo-medicine for this purpose):
This is junk science (or therapy), and it's dangerous to those who think it actually works. Orangemarlin 23:32, 20 June 2007 (UTC)
Or just read the articles, talkpages and the citations and come to your own conclusions OrangeMarlin. Actually only the two editors from ACT (who edit by their real names) are entirely confident that DDP belongs in the list of 'attachment therapy by another name' but this has not yet been fully explored. The ACT list in any event appears on the ACT website. I'm not aware of any proposal to transpose that list into the article. It is the proponents of DDP who repeatedly place DDP in the articles, not the opponents. And Ralph, please resist the temptation to interfere with other editors talkpage edits or interpose replies when another editor has already replied to the previous editor. You can always say 're your post above' or something. Fainites 18:05, 21 June 2007 (UTC)
a) many editors here would be perfectly happy for DDP not to be mentioned at all. Its not particularly notable. What they do not accept is it's being described as 'evidence based' in the same breath as the likes of Leiberman and 'congruent' with Chaffins guidelines when its main propnent was specifically criticised by Chaffin on three counts. I and many others would be perfectly happy for DDP to be accurately described in accordance with sources but that has been resisted.
b) it really is very very funny for you to describe Prior and Glaser as 'polemic'. It is published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists Research and Training Unit, as part of the work of FOCUS whose purpose is to provide both professionals and parents with accessible, evidence based resources and (I quote) 'up-to-the-minute analysis of research' !
c) I have absolutely nothing to do with ACT and have, as you very well know, attempted (without success) to de-emphasise your emphasis on ACT in this article. I have frequently complained about the distortion of this article by your obsession with ACT. All the relevent sources to write an article on attachment therapy are available without reference to ACT if necessary.
d) Sarner and Mercer have made their affiliation with ACT very plain and they edit in their own names, which is more that anybody else does here, and it is honest and up front of them to do so. You have no basis for implying that other editors are editing on their behalf, receiving financial benefits, are part of their 'group' or 'gang' or are meats or socks. Fainites 21:58, 21 June 2007 (UTC)
Well really DP. After all that whinging about how it was me interfereing with JonesRD's edit, here you are deliberately interefering with mine [107]. This really is very very petty. Fainites 22:56, 21 June 2007 (UTC)
On evidence based therapies; I was actually in the process of finding sources for evidence based therapies which I put in the article. You guys kept removing them and replacing them with an unsourced list that contained DDP. My sourced evidence based therapies are, by a happy and no doubt unintended accident, currently in the protected version. Chaffin did not specifically name any but did refer to the same meta-analysis to which Prior and Glaser refer in their chapter on evidence based interentions. The others I got from the APA. It's very much work in progress though and more sourced evidence based therapies would be welcome if there are any. My view is that they have to be described as evidence based by notable authorities, not just self report. Do you agree? Should we also agree what definition of evidence based is appropriate for Wiki? They're all much the same really and there's a good definition in Chaffin.Fainites 22:33, 21 June 2007 (UTC)
Following your arguments about interposing, shouldn't this go after the following section since the material was added after?????DPetersontalk 22:55, 21 June 2007 (UTC)
By the way Orange, would you like me to e-mail you any sources that I have? You presumably have access to an academic data base, but if it helps I can e-mail you the Taskforce report, the ensuing open correspondance and the supplemental report, Speltz on the history and development of attachment therapy, Craven & Lee on their graded scheme of support for therapies, Mercer/Pignotti's reply and Craven and Lees reply to that and Prior and Glasers chapter on non-evidence based treatments for supposed attachment disorders. Fainites 21:15, 21 June 2007 (UTC)
There is current information on this page from as recently as Msy. Please do not archive this page until mediation is complete. DPetersontalk 01:05, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
Has anyone noticed the line numbering on a "diff" of the last section on this talk page? It's up to at least line 2,758! It's long past due for an archive. But I'm willing to wait for a mediator to come on board and decide on the archiving, so there can't be any unfounded charges of "bias" in this simple act of Wiki management. Larry Sarner 19:37, 22 June 2007 (UTC) Sorry, grammarically I should have said "arguable" instead of "unfounded"...and the line count is up to at least line 2,763 now. Larry Sarner 20:04, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
Mediation is pending. There is important information on this talk page. Why would anyone want to hide it away in an archive...even if you can get to it. Leave it here for now.JohnsonRon 20:01, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
It might be easier to find things if we labelled it in sections. It also might need a bit of work. I notice the Phantom Retrospective Indenter has been at it. One of my proposed article sections has been turned into a weird diagonal wedge with the heading run into the text. Can't think of any justification for that from formatting policies. Fainites 21:27, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
I agree with Johnson that since mediation is pending this should stay just as it is. DPetersontalk 22:09, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
Now this talk page is up to at least 2,817 lines! It downloads horribly, even on my broadband connection, even on diffs and edits. Like justice, accessibility delayed is accessibility denied. Larry Sarner 13:34, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
Just to let everyone know (particularly FatherTree against whom they are filed and who was not informed) that DPeterson has filed two ANI's relating to this page and RalphLender one. [108] and [109] [110]. Fainites 08:35, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
Well it only seemed polite. Fainites 19:41, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
What IP comparison do you mean Father Tree? There was one put on StokerAces talkpage a while back by someone, or there was an old one found ages ago of AWeidman and DPeterson apparently using the same IP number. Is that the one? After all. There's nothing inherently wrong in editing under a different name. Many editors wish to remain anonymous. My real name, oddly enough, isn't Fainites! Fainites 19:45, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
'Be careful about making accusations of sockpuppet.' The issue seems to have been investigated at least twice and there was not sockpuppet...the various editors were distinct. Continuing to raise '"innocent"' questions can still be considered a personal attack. JohnsonRon 20:04, 22 June 2007 (UTC)
Only one remains open. The other two are closed and the administrator did find that the issue of FatherTree knowinlgy making false accusations of sockpuppetry is real and valid
*All other discussions aside, to address the actual topic, did User:FatherTree offer up anything more than that one comment? I believe the traditional idea behind the canvassing policy was to discourage people from spamming multiple areas and/or talk pages because it was a disruption. Asking one editor's opinion, even in a biased manner, wouldn't appear to qualify. If he continues the sockpuppet accusations I would make sure to remind him about the personal attacks policy; feel free to hit up my talk page if he doesn't stop the attacks. Shell babelfish 01:30, 23 June 2007 (UTC)
RalphLendertalk 21:43, 23 June 2007 (UTC)
Appreciate your claifity that. DPetersontalk 00:41, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
Thanks Shell. I think what he means Sarner is that a) he does not find that that Father Tree has called DP a sockpuppt, but b) if he does call DP a sockpuppet, warn him and if he carries on let me know, and c) the allegations of canvassing were false. Please correct me if I'm wrong Shellfish! Fainites 07:01, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
Sudden thought! Were you talking about DP's sentence not Shellfishes? Fainites 07:08, 24 June 2007 (UTC)
WJBScribe has just said they are in the middle of appointing new members and a new chair, but we are not forgotten! Fainites 06:23, 26 June 2007 (UTC)
Due to the user-conduct issues which have made it impossible to proceed with any meaningful discussion, I have requested arbitration. The request can be found at Wikipedia:Requests_for_arbitration#Attachment_Therapy. shotwell 11:44, 2 July 2007 (UTC)
Hello Shotwell. Why has the article been locked off? Addisababa 03:51, 3 July 2007 (UTC)
Addisababa has been blocked as another sock of HeadleyDown. Fainites 17:55, 4 July 2007 (UTC)
That is now two supporters who have been blocked related to this article, or is it now three?. DPetersontalk 21:34, 4 July 2007 (UTC)
Supporters DP? On what basis do you consider Addisababa a supporter? Of whom? Fainites 15:57, 5 July 2007 (UTC)
Policy is that pages are protected as little as possible, since page protection itself is disruptive. With the blocking of certain socks the need to protect the page may not be as acute.
As and when protection can be removed or downgraded, please go ahead and ask for unprotection. The same applies to other pages affected by this dispute. FT2 (Talk | email) 19:58, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
What is the general view on this? Arbitration isn't finished but in the light of the removal of 5 socks, is there any reason why this page shouldn't now be edited again? Fainites barley 23:07, 21 July 2007 (UTC)
Now that the page has been unprotected I have taken the liberty of removing the most obvious POV and sockery and amalgamating the proposed alternative article I drafted back in April with the better bits of this article. I thought this might be a better starting point. Fainites barley 21:50, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
Can I recommend that we archive this talk page to this point? It's huge, still takes forever to load, and has tremendous edit-warring by five, maybe seven, sockpuppets. If the article itself is at a better starting point, it would be worthwhile to have the talk page at a likewise better starting point. Larry Sarner 22:33, 22 July 2007 (UTC)
Fine by me. Don't have a clue how to do it though. I've added some more Chaffin in treatment characteristics. This could perhaps be organised better into sections do you think? I need to put in proper refs fro some of the cites. Also, there's some bits floating around under 'attachemnt therapies' that don't seem to belong. Would this be an appropriate place fro Craven & Lee do you think? The other thing is a think it needs a section on what attachment therapists have to say for themselves as opposed to just what their critics say. It wasn't really possible to get round to that when trying to edit with socks who's main purpose was to pretend it doesn't really exist. Fainites barley 23:02, 22 July 2007 (UTC)