EMDR in the treatment of attachment and bonding difficulties

A case of a young mother with an insecure attachment history herself who suffered severe post-natal depression after the birth of her first child and who regretted having this baby. Although recovering well from depression when first seen, having benefited from drug therapy and group therapy, there ware nevertheless little progress regarding her bonding with the child. Assessment indicated the emergence of an insecure/ambivalent attachment on the part of the baby resulting in excessive clinginess, sleeping, feeding and management difficulties. Apart from EMDR a number of other models of therapy were used in this case, including mother-infant psychotherapy, solution-focused and narrative therapy. In my own estimation, and in feedback from Susan, EMDR was the most powerful of all interventions. I think this care then represents a very good example of how EMDR is integrated with other therapeutic approaches. In terms of our understanding of this process, one conceptual model (Shapiro, 1995) is that the positive perspective and more adaptive interpretation that traditional therapy provides including insight and a coherent narrative is held in a separate neurological network and therefore cannot influence the network containing the dysfunction ally stored material associated with the traumatic memory. Traditional therapy is often unable to help the client link one to the other, and this is where EMDR is so impressively effective.

Book Section

English

Eamon McMahon

McMahon, E. (2002). EMDR in the treatment of attachment and bonding difficulties. In J. Morris-Smith (Ed.), OP19: EMDR: Clinical applications with children (pp. 31-36). London, England: The Association for Child Psychology and Psychiatry