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This book sets out to integrate an inter-generational theory of caregiving and attachment with a personal and object relations theory of the self. The authors assert that attachment theory has become an indispensable component of a clinical bio-psycho-social theory of the human self. They further propose that the fundamental tenets of attachment theory, when integrated into a theory of the self, can be employed by therapists to understand their clients’ ‘predicaments’ and the defensive structures which pose obstacles to mature self-care and management. Finally, they suggest that the therapeutic task may be defined in attachment terms as providing a new model of caregiving, through which the client may be freed to exchange defensive ways of relating to the self, others and the world for mature and mutually satisfying ones.
Bowlby's model of instinctive behaviour, of which caregiving is a component, provides the theoretical grounding for the book. The authors argue that it provides the most solid foundation available for understanding how the relationship a child has with his parents can affect his wellbeing and the unfolding of his developing sense of self.
The book seeks to extend Bowlby's ideas by focusing on the concept of supportive companionable caregiving. In conceptualising this model of caregiving, and contrasting it with a more dysfunctional pattern, termed dominating submissive caregiving, the authors survey a broad sweep of literature. In particular, they comment on the contribution of Stern's work on attunement; Trevarthen's theory of intersubjectivity; MacLean's evolutionary perspective on non-verbal signals; the literature on the psychobiology of attachment and separation; Sperry's work on the neural infrastructure of brain processes mediating conscious awareness; and the burgeoning empirical work on attachment led by Main and others.
In Bowlby's model, the overall function of the careseeking system is seen as ensuring