Dissociative Identities: Attachment-based Approaches to Psychotherapy
Part of The Bowlby Centre Monograph Series - more in this series
Book Details
- Publisher : Routledge
- Published : March 2025
- Cover : Paperback
- Pages : 184
- Category :
Psychoanalysis - Category 2 :
Forthcoming - Catalogue No : 97969
- ISBN 13 : 9781032696652
- ISBN 10 : 1032696656
Also by Sue Richardson
Creative Responses to Child Sexual Abuse
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Dissociative Identities draws on expertise from practitioners and survivors to explore therapeutic approaches to dissociation resulting from complex trauma. The contributors provide a vivid insight into what it is like for therapist and survivor to be alongside one another in the therapy room. They highlight the challenges of work with the fragmented internal worlds of those who have survived attachment trauma and explore together what approaches can promote healing and repair.
Dissociative identity is reframed from being a disorder to an essential survival skill, and the book includes an open recognition from the perspective of both therapist and survivor of relational challenges, pitfalls and their impact on the healing process.
Dissociative Identities will be invaluable for all professionals working with survivors of complex trauma, including psychotherapists, nurses, social workers, clinical psychologists and counsellors. It will also be of interest to survivors and their networks.
Reviews and Endorsements
What a wonderful book! I thoroughly enjoyed every chapter. This book embraces an attachment-focussed conceptualisation of dissociative identities, and uniquely combines both professional and lived experience perspectives. The diverse chapters richly explore theoretical conceptualisation, personal and professional experiences of therapy, and allow space for detailed explanation of clinical process. This includes cases rarely discussed in clinical and teaching literature, such as clients with organised abuse and ongoing abuse. The final two chapters, which contain reflections from those with lived experience, complete the book beautifully.
Kate McMaugh, Psychologist, Sydney, Australia
Dissociative Identities: Attachment-based Approaches to Psychotherapy is worth reading, for clinicians, family members, those with dissociated selves, and anyone interested in the effects of trauma. The chapters by individuals with dissociative identity disorder are particularly compelling, well written, and illuminating. Overall, the book provides the best available explanation of the attachment-based treatment of dissociated identities. The chapters are readable, nuanced and detailed. I highly recommend the book.
Dr Colin Ross MD, President of The Ross Institute for Psychological Trauma; Past and President of The International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation
Since Janet’s pioneering descriptions, dissociative identity difficulties remain one of mental health’s many orphans. In this rich and multifaceted collection, attachment-oriented therapists and those with dissociative identity collaborate to paint a vivid account of the family origins, current experiences, and therapeutic possibilities offered by an attachment approach to psychotherapy with this condition. Compassion, hope, and understanding shine throughout the text. A must-read for therapists at all levels.!
Professor Jeremy Holmes, MD FRCPsych, University of Exeter, UK
Attachment traumas and post-traumatic dissociation are widespread, impacting a significant portion of the population. Dissociative Identities: Attachment-based Approaches to Therapy is a must-read for any mental health professional looking to deepen their understanding and treatment of trauma survivors through attachment-informed techniques. The editors have curated a rich tapestry of practical knowledge, clinical insights, and therapeutic approaches applicable to any trauma-informed practice. Offering a unique perspective, this book explores the lived experience of dissociation through the combined wisdom of expert practitioners and empowered survivors of relational trauma. I highly recommend this book to all mental health practitioners regardless of theoretical orientation!
Marlene Steinberg, M.D., author, The SCID-D Interview, Dissociation Assessment in Therapy, Forensics and Research; The Stranger in the Mirror; Dissociation-The Hidden Epidemic; and The Handbook for the Assessment of Dissociation, A Clinical Guide
Table of Contents
Foreword
Mark Linington
Introduction
Sue Richardson
1. Using an attachment-based model to understand and work with people with dissociative identity
Mark Linington
2. Exploration of the relational dialogue between client and therapist
Catherine Holland
3. What are we doing? Stabilisation Work with a Mind Control System of Altered Identities
Emma Jack
4. On Being With: Working Creatively with Clients with Dissociative Identity
Orit Badouk Epstein
5. When the alleged abuser is famous: some of the problems in dealing with alleged VIP abuse
Valerie Sinason
6. The parts, the whole and the real person: an attachment perspective
Adah Sachs in conversation with Emma Jack
7. Learning to Thrive: So many cogs in the wheel
Melanie Goodwin
8. Reflective commentary: The perspective of an expert by experience on clinical theory and practice
Michele Jowett
Index
About the Editor(s)
Sue Richardson is a member of The Bowlby Centre and a UKCP registered attachment-based psychotherapist and supervisor.
Melanie Goodwin is an expert by experience and co-founder of First Person Plural, an organization which raised awareness and provided training and support for people with dissociative conditions and their allies from 1997 until its closure in 2023.
Emma Jack is a Minster Centre trained relational psychotherapist. She is Clinical Director for The Clinic for Dissociative Studies.
Michele Jowett is an expert by experience as a person living with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Committed to sharing her experiences of dissociation and informing professionals through writing for the ESTD, ISSTD and FPP newsletters, she was instrumental in producing The Survivors Trust resources website.
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