Journal of Child Psychotherapy 

About: Journal of Child Psychotherapy is an academic journal published by Taylor & Francis. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Child psychotherapy & Psychoanalytic theory. It has an ISSN identifier of 0075-417X. Over the lifetime, 991 publications have been published receiving 8812 citations.

Attachment Representations in School-Age Children: The Development of the Child Attachment Interview (CAI)

Abstract: This paper introduces a new measure of attachment in middle childhood (8-13 years), an interview extensively adapted from the AAI and with a new coding system. We report data from a series of studies with clinical and normal populations, in which the psychometric properties of reliability, stability and validity are tested and found to be satisfactory. Although work remains to be done, we see the Child Attachment Interview as a promising new attachment measure.

Attachment representations and adoption: associations between maternal states of mind and emotion narratives in previously maltreated children

Abstract: This paper reports on associations observed between Adult Attachment Interviews (AAIs) obtained from adoptive mothers, and emotional themes appearing in doll play narratives obtained from their recently adopted children. The children, aged 4 - 8 years, carried into their adoptive placements a history of consistently serious maltreatment, including neglect and abuse. Results reveal strong and significant influences of maternal state of mind regarding attachment upon their adopted children's story-completions. Mothers whose AAIs were judged insecure (either dismissing or preoccupied) were likely to have adopted children who, three months after placement, provided story-completions with higher levels of aggressiveness as compared to the stories provided by children adopted by mothers with secure-autonomous AAIs. Children whose adoptive mothers provided AAIs indicative of unresolved (as opposed to resolved) mourning regarding past loss or trauma provided story completions with higher scores for emotional them...

Circuits and circumstances: the neurobiological consequences of early relationship experiences and how they shape later behaviour

Abstract: The last decade has seen a vast increase in knowledge of how the human brain develops. It has been demonstrated that both the establishment of synaptic connections between neurones and the programming of neurochemical responses that have an effect on the whole body are dependent on experience. The most sensitive period for brain growth, the time of optimal plasticity, is over the first two or three years of life. If the baby's neurological development is threatened by abuse or neglect, which includes excessive attachment disruption, the damage may set its stamp on the rest of life.