A Dynamic‐Maturational Model of Attachment

This article provides an overview of an attachment‐based approach to formulation of behavioural and psychiatric disorder. The dynamic‐maturational model (DMM) of attachment places many such problems within a context of family‐attachment relationships. In the DMM, neurological maturation interacting with experience is central to the self‐protective strategies that individuals develop to regulate familial attachments. When the relationships fail to protect child (or parent), more extreme strategies are organised to wrest some measure of safety and comfort from an otherwise threatening environment. A wide range of such strategies is described. It is argued that recognising attachment strategies in patients is crucial to providing helpful treatment (and to reducing the risk of inappropriate treatment).