Books / Psychodynamic & attachment
A Secure Base: Clinical Applications of Attachment Theory
By John Bowlby. His account of attachment theory and how it bears on parent-child relationships and clinical work.
Book details
Author of listed edition: John Bowlby
Edition: 1988 Routledge edition
Publisher: Routledge
Edition year: 1988
Language and origin: English (United Kingdom)
Form and genre: Clinical & Theoretical Monograph
Level: Intermediate
Historical era: 1980–2009 · Evidence-Based, Trauma & Integrative Era
Covers: Attachment theory and its relevance to development and clinical work
APA 7th reference: Bowlby, J. (1988). A secure base: Clinical applications of attachment theory. Routledge.
What it is & historical context
A Secure Base is a collection of lectures by John Bowlby. The 1988 Routledge edition has the subtitle Clinical Applications of Attachment Theory. A US edition published by Basic Books in the same year uses the subtitle Parent-Child Attachment and Healthy Human Development. A later Routledge Classics edition appeared in 2005.
Core clinical themes & arguments
The library catalogue describes a collection addressing attachment, development and the therapeutic process. This entry has not been written from a full reading of the book and does not summarise its individual chapters.
Questions for critical reading
How does Bowlby distinguish attachment behaviour in infancy from the enduring internal working models discussed in adult psychotherapy? What clinical evidence would be needed to show that exploring early attachment history changes present relationships?
Who it may suit
Readers who want attachment theory from its originator, including students of psychodynamic, relational and developmental approaches. Because it is a theoretical and clinical text, it is not a step-by-step parenting guide.
Scope & clinical limits
The book is from 1988, and attachment theory and research have developed and been debated since. It gives Bowlby’s own account, not a review of later work. It does not diagnose or describe any individual child, parent or family, and nothing in it or in this entry is advice for an individual situation. Bowlby worked in Britain, and the book reflects thinking of its period. Practice and guidance differ between the UK and the US.
Paired academic and clinical scholarship
Paired work: Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation (Mary D. Salter Ainsworth, Mary C. Blehar, Everett Waters and Sally Wall, 1978)
Reference: Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Lawrence Erlbaum.
A study of infant attachment patterns. Its full text was not reviewed for this entry.
Source-mapped claims and evidence notes
Claim 1: The UK Routledge edition appeared in 1988 under the subtitle Clinical Applications of Attachment Theory. (The library catalogue was checked; the complete book was not reviewed.) [Source 1: WorldCat. A secure base: clinical applications of attachment theory, 1988 edition.]
Sources and inspection notes
WorldCat. A secure base: clinical applications of attachment theory, 1988 edition.
Supports: Library catalogue identifies Bowlby, the 1988 Routledge publication and its UK subtitle.
WorldCat. A secure base: parent-child attachment and healthy human development, 1988 edition.
Supports: Library catalogue identifies the 1988 Basic Books edition and its US subtitle.
Wellcome Collection. A secure base: clinical applications of attachment theory.
Supports: Catalogue identifies the 2005 Routledge Classics edition, its subtitle and contents. The complete book was not reviewed.