By Arthur Becker-Weidman, Ph.D., Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Topic Expert Contributor

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Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, which is an evidence-based, effective, and empirically validated treatment is composed of a variety of elements and based on a number of principles that have strong empirical support. Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy is, in some respects, an amalgam of effective principles of treatment. This article will describe the elements of Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy and a few of its underlying principles.

It is helpful to remember that everything begins with building an alliance. “Without an alliance there can be no secure base. Without a secure base there can be no exploration. Without exploration there can be no integration. Without integration there can be no healing.” Read the rest of this entry

By Arthur Becker-Weidman, Ph.D., Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy Topic Expert Contributor

Click here to contact Arthur and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

In this first article here I will describe what Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy is. Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy began as a family-therapy approach, grounded in attachment theory, for the treatment of children with disorders of attachment. It has developed over the past decade into a broader approach for treatment and has been found to be an evidence-based, effective, and empirically validated treatment.

Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy has as its central therapeutic mechanism the maintenance of a contingent, collaborative, sensitive, reflective and affectively attuned relationship between therapist and child, between caregiver and child, and between therapist and caregiver. Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy focuses on and relies upon the intersubjective sharing and joint development and organization of emotional experience. Intersubjectivity refers to shared emotion (also called attunement), shared attention, and shared intention. Read the rest of this entry

By Arthur Becker-Weidman, Ph.D.

Click here to contact Arthur and/or see his GoodTherapy.org Profile

Many adopted and foster children have had very difficult and painful histories with their first parents. These children have experienced chronic early maltreatment within a caregiving relationship. Such a history can lead to the development of Complex Trauma (Cook et. al., 2003; Cook et. al., 2005), disorders of attachment, and Reactive Attachment Disorder. Children with histories of maltreatment, such as physical and psychological neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, are at risk of developing severe psychiatric problems (Gauthier, Stollak, Messe, & Arnoff, 1996; Malinosky-Rummell & Hansen, 1993). These children are likely to develop Reactive Attachment Disorder (Greenberg, 1999; Lyons-Ruth & Jacobvitz, 1999). Approximately 2% of the population is adopted, and between 50% and 80% of such children have attachment disorder symptoms (Carlson, Cicchetti, Barnett, & Braunwald, 1995; Cicchetti, Cummings, Greenberg, & Marvin, 1990). Many of these children are violent (Robins, 1978) and aggressive (Prino & Peyrot, 1994) and as adults are at risk of developing a variety of psychological problems (Schreiber & Lyddon, 1998) and personality disorders, including antisocial personality disorder (Finzi, Cohen, Sapir, & Weizman, 2000), narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder, and psychopathic personality disorder (Dozier, Stovall, & Albus, 1999). Therapeutic Parenting is often necessary to help these children heal (Becker-Weidman, A., & Shell, D., 2005/2008). This approach to parenting is often not familiar to most parents and requires a significant amount of work and preparation. Attachment facilitating parenting is grounded in attachment theory and is based on a set of principles that include: Read the rest of this entry