Attachment-based family therapy for depressed and suicidal adolescents: theory, clinical model and empirical support

• Published in: Attachment & human development Vol. 17; no. 2; pp. 136 - 156
• Main Authors: Ewing, E. Stephanie Krauthamer, Diamond, Guy, Levy, Suzanne
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Routledge 04.03.2015; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: adolescence; Adolescent; attachment-based family therapy; depression; Depression - psychology; Depression - therapy; Emotions; Families & family life; Family Therapy - methods; Humans; Mental depression; Models, Psychological; Object Attachment; Parent-Child Relations; Parenting; Psychology, Adolescent - methods; Suicidal Ideation; suicide; Suicides & suicide attempts; Teenagers; Therapy; Training; treatment; adolescence; treatment; depression; suicide; attachment-based family therapy
• ISSN: 1461-6734; 1469-2988
• DOI: 10.1080/14616734.2015.1006384

Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) is a manualized family-based intervention designed for working with depressed adolescents, including those at risk for suicide, and their families. It is an empirically informed and supported treatment. ABFT has its theoretical underpinnings in attachment theory and clinical roots in structural family therapy and emotion focused therapies. ABFT relies on a transactional model that aims to transform the quality of adolescent-parent attachment, as a means of providing the adolescent with a more secure relationship that can support them during challenging times generally, and the crises related to suicidal thinking and behavior, specifically. This article reviews: (1) the theoretical foundations of ABFT (attachment theory, models of emotional development); (2) the ABFT clinical model, including training and supervision factors; and (3) empirical support.