Attachment Based Family Therapy (ABFT) Introductory Workshop: Part One

Course Description

Attachment Based Family Therapy is a manualized, empirically informed family therapy model specifically designed to target family and individual processes associated with adolescent suicide and depression. ABFT emerges from interpersonal theories that suggest adolescent depression and suicide can be precipitated, exacerbated or buffered against by the quality of interpersonal relationships in families. Tested with diverse families, including low- income and minority families, ABFT is a trust-based, emotion-focused psychotherapy model that aims to repair interpersonal ruptures and rebuild an emotionally protective, secure-based parent–child relationship.

Treatment is characterized by five treatment tasks:

• Reframing the therapy to focus on interpersonal development
• Building alliance with the adolescent
• Building alliance with the parents
• Facilitating conversations to resolve attachment ruptures
• Promoting autonomy and competency in the adolescent.

ABFT is a flexible yet programmatic approach to facilitating these processes. Although not prescriptive, the treatment manual provides a clear 'road map' of how to accomplish this "shuttle diplomacy" thereby allowing these profound and reparative conversations to occur quickly in therapy. Therapists are taught to rapidly focus on core family conflicts, relational failure, vulnerable emotions and the instinctual desire for giving and receiving attachment security.

By attending the introductory workshop, attendees will have a basic understanding of how to use attachment theory to guide family intervention. Attendees will also gain a general introduction to the task structure of the model.  During the introductory workshop, lecture and therapy tapes are used to provide an overview of the model including theoretical foundation and clinical strategies of ABFT. 

At the completion of the workshop participants should be able to:

• Explain the theoretical foundation of ABFT.
• Discuss the empirical support for ABFT.
• Describe the five treatment task structure of the model.
• Explain how to organize therapy around interpersonal growth rather than behavioral management.
• Identify the strategies used in the five treatment tasks.
• Describe what a relational rupture is.