ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to summarize the contribution attachment theory can make to social work practice. It argues that this contribution has been hampered by misunderstandings about what it does — and, more importantly, what it does not — say about close human relationships across the lifespan. The chapter offers a deepened and strengthened synthesis, firstly by identifying some key misconceptions and then by outlining four contemporary applications of attachment theory to social work practice. It is good professional practice to stay up to date in one’s area of interest and specialism; this is especially true in the field of attachment because so much research is undertaken. With a contemporary knowledge of ‘mentalisation’, social workers aim to bring the ‘inside out’. The effects of such ‘event-based’ trauma are well documented, whereas the downstream consequences of chronic sexual, physical and emotional maltreatment are only just being acknowledged.
