Mark L. Beischel – Attachment and Emotional Regulation

Outline

Attachment Research & Affect Regulation

• Work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth: attachment organization across the lifespan
• Allan Schore’s affect regulation and the orbital-frontal cortex
• Louis Cozolino’s work on attachment and the social brain—the healing relationship

Neuropsychological Bases of Emotional Regulation

• Prefrontal—amygdala interaction
• Neural basis
• Neural architecture
• Genetics

The Role of Cognitive Processes in Mood Regulation

• Prefrontal cortex and the executive functions
• Explanatory style and emotional regulation
• Affect regulation and forecasting
• Conflict monitoring and emotional regulation

Parenting and Family Functioning

• Parenting influences in early development
• Attachment and the evolution of families
• Socialization and emotional regulation in the family
• Nancy Eisenberg’s effortful control
• Emotional regulation and the aging brain

Individual Differences

• Temperament
• Individual differences and emotional control
• Intelligent emotional regulation
• Emotions and self-regulation

Social Interventions

• Proximity and touch in infant and early childhood treatment
• Non-conscious regulation
• Adult attachment strategies
• Interpersonal regulation
• Emotional regulation and the role of religio

Development of Affect Dysregulation

• Attachment theory
  • Avoidant response
  • Ambivalent response
  • Disorganized response
  • Secure response
• Development of insecure attachment through the life span
  • Early childhood behaviors
  • School age behaviors
  • Adolescent behaviors
  • Adult behaviors
• Measurement of secure and insecure attachment
  • RADQ (Randolph Attachment Disorder Questionnaire)​
  • IPPA (Inventory of Positive Psychological Attitudes)
  • TABS (Trauma and Attachment Belief Scale)
  • Projective testing—play therapy model
• Inconsistent parenting
• Vulnerability of insecurely attached
  • At risk children
  • Protective influences

Clinical Interventions

• PTSD and emotional regulation
• Allan Schore’s application of self-psychology in repairing affect regulation
• Methods to avoid the power struggles
• The power of praise vs. acknowledgment
• Emotional regulation in externalizing disorders in children and adolescents
  • ADHD
  • ODD
  • Conduct disorder
• Chemical dependency and affect regulation
• Marsha Linehan’s dialectical behavior therapy and emotional regulation
• Techniques for the school setting
• Techniques to enhance relationships between teachers and kids/teens
• Educational strategies to help kids focus and stay on task
• Effective behavior modification techniques to reduce angry outbursts at school
• Attachment based family therapy for adolescents
• Mindfulness, relaxation response

Psycho-Pharmaceutical Interventions: Indications and Contraindications

• Stimulants
• Antihypertensives
• Antipsychotics

Case Studies