The Attachment Function of Acute and Chronic Suicidal Illness in the Psychotherapy of an Adult Female Incest Survivor.

This paper presents the attachment-focused psychotherapy of a suicidal adult woman with a history of paternal incest, paternal suicide, and maternal death; the latter provoked the patient's near lethal overdose. Psychotherapy with this patient posed formidable clinical challenges because killing her...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical Social Work Journal Vol. 42; no. 1; pp. 49 - 61
Main Author: Greenfield, Robert
Format: Article
Published: Springer Nature Mar2014
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
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        10.1007/s10615-012-0429-7
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        atl: The Attachment Function of Acute and Chronic Suicidal Illness in the Psychotherapy of an Adult Female Incest Survivor.
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        au: Greenfield, Robert
        affil: 80 Bay Street Landing, Unit 1B Staten Island 10301 USA
      su:
        Incest victims
        Attachment theory (Psychology)
        Intersubjectivity
        Psychotherapy methodology
        Suicidal behavior
        Intergenerational relations
        Emotional trauma
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        subj:
          Incest victims
          Attachment theory (Psychology)
          Intersubjectivity
          Psychotherapy methodology
          Suicidal behavior
          Intergenerational relations
          Emotional trauma
      keyword:
        Attachment theory
        Incest
        Internal working model
        Psychotherapy
        Suicide
        Attachment theory
        Incest
        Internal working model
        Psychotherapy
        Suicide
      ab: This paper presents the attachment-focused psychotherapy of a suicidal adult woman with a history of paternal incest, paternal suicide, and maternal death; the latter provoked the patient's near lethal overdose. Psychotherapy with this patient posed formidable clinical challenges because killing herself represented the internalization of profound incest-related shame and pathological beliefs about herself and mother that permeated her whole way of being. By focusing on the patient's multiple working models of attachment associated with the incest and father's suicide, I illustrate the intergenerational transmission of unresolved trauma underlying her suicidal illness. The implications for practice emphasize how understanding and utilizing the intersubjective disorganized attachment dynamics facilitated the patient's internalization of more adaptive and life-affirming views of self and surrounding conditions.
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      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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