Creating the Capacity for Attachment: Treating Addictions and the Alienated Self [Paperback]

Karen B. Walant (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0765702401 | ISBN-13: 978-0765702401 | Publication Date: August 1, 1999

Detached, alienated people, many of them functioning with a pathologically developed false self, barely navigate life's challenges. Our cultural emphasis on autonomy and separateness has led to a retreat from valuing interpersonal, communal dependence and has greatly contributed to a rise in the number of people whose suffering is often expressed in addictions and personality disorders. Using actual patient material including diaries and letters, Karen Walant's Creating the Capacity for Attachment shows how "immersive moments" in therapy--moments of complete understanding between patient and therapist--are powerful enough to dislodge the alienated, detached self from its hiding place and enable the individual to begin incorporating his or her inner core into his or her external, social self.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Walant has added a missing piece to the therapeutic puzzle. She stresses the central need for intellectual and emotional immersion in the therapeutic process both for the patient and the therapist. Walant demonstrates her techniques using moving case histories of patients suffering from psychiatric illnesses, as well as those affected by addictions. Her use of well-chosen quotes fro the world of literature, poetry, and religion makes reading the book a sheer pleasure as well as an intellectual adventure. (Samuel C. Klagsbrun, M.D. )

In this scholarly, sensitive book, Karen Walant systematically examines psychodynamic paradigms for understanding development and applies her analysis to the needs and problems of substance-dependent individuals. She provocatively underscores the failure of classical psychoanalysis to attune to what shapes infantile behavior and its profound effects on adult adaptations. In its place she offers rich material from childhood observations and adult clinical encounters to present a refreshing psychoanalytic model that better explains the distress and characteristic defenses that lead to maladaptive solutions. The insight that she provides guides the reader in more successfully understanding, accessing, and modifying addictive vulnerability. (Edward J. Khantzian, M.D. )

This book provides clear, practical guidelines for the therapist to help patients restore the lost capacity for attachment. It is especially noteworthy that Dr. Walant describes how the therapist may effectively utilize the patient's participation in twelve-step programs as a part of a psychodynamic treatment approach. This is an important book that I highly recommend for clinicians at all levels of experience. (Jeffrey Seinfeld, Ph.D. )

About the Author

Karen B. Walant, Ph.D., is a psychotherapist in private practice in Katonah, New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc. (August 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765702401
• ISBN-13: 978-0765702401
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #336,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Treating addictions (esp alcohol) in a more loving way, June 18, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Creating the Capacity for Attachment: Treating Addictions and the Alienated Self (Hardcover)

Walant undertakes one major revision of the Freudian position on infantile narcissism: the alienated personality turning to drugs (esp alcohol) didn't have a period of primary omnipotence, but rather was deprived of infantile satisfactions, so that adult narcissism is a defense of the masked self. Anyone who looks candidly at infants knows they are tiny and helpless, and need moments of success to feel empowered at all; these moments are what primary narcissism is really about. In order to address the needs of these alienated addicts who have found what AA calls their "Higher Power" in alcohol, Walant has developed a form of involved analysis in which the therapist engages in a form (albeit therapeutically protected) of love for the patient. Such patients have been deprived of what Jung called "oceanic," 'immersive,' or 'fusion' experiences. The well-developed personality needs to strike a balance between autonomy, already present to some extent even before birth, and fusion, which isn't merely ego-regression; addicts have been fusion-deprived and seek it in substance abuse. This is a healthy corrective to a more orthodox Freudian position that over-emphasizes the eventual complete independence of the patient and the detachment of the analytic observer, typical of the 'age of analysis' in which Freud lived. There are interesting passages on drug selection as reflecting the user's particular problems. My critical comments are two: 1) the book could have been more tightly written, since it has such a particular, interesting, and well considered axe to grind. 2) Walant rightly focuses on the mystical tradition as a source of 'oceanic' thinking, but mentions neither the great relevant mystics (like Meister Eckhart) nor the body of 20th century philosophy, particularly Husserl and Scheler ("The Essence of Sympathy") that could have given her a stronger theoretical foundation. Since no one can read everything, the latter shortcoming is certainly forgivable, but I hope she takes note of Husserl and Scheler in her forthcoming writings--Jonathan Ketchum, PhD (Philosophy)

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Every parent, child advocate and therapist should read and reflect seriously on the concepts of this book, May 23, 2006

By 

Maureen McCarthy - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Creating the Capacity for Attachment: Treating Addictions and the Alienated Self (Paperback)

This ground-breaking book should be read by every parent, every therapist who works with addicts, every professional who works with families and every policy-maker who makes decisions that involve the nurturing of infants and children. Dr.Walant coined the term "normative abuse" to describe some of the child-rearing practices of mainstream America. "Normative" because they are the norm, accepted by "experts" as well as by the average parent, and "abuse" because these practices are damaging to the child's developing self. Dr. Walant shows how the American over-emphasis on "independence" results in the neglect of connectedness and security needs, making children vulnerable to addictive behavior and personality disorders later in life. She points out: "These disorders, which are so pervasive in our current world, illustrate that beneath the veneer of self-reliance lies the core of powerlessness, alienation, and detachment." In other words, we can only make children ACT self-sufficient, we cannot produce confidence and a healthy self-reliance through neglect of their dependency/attachment needs. Since this neglect of security/connection needs is perpetrated by the vast majority of well-meaning parents in America, we should not be surprised that everywhere we look we see prisoners to the addictions of food, TV, cigarettes, sex, work, relationships, gambling and/or thrills, not to mention drugs and alcohol.
Dr. Walant states that "Normative abuse occurs when parental instinct and empathy are replaced by cultural norms." So we must promote a healthy INTER-dependence by not only allowing but encouraging an empathic, responsive parenting style, beginning in infancy. Children whose attachment/dependency needs are met by consistently responsive parents are given a solid foundation from which healthy exploration and growth can be launched. Their parents are their "secure base" and they have no need for "security blankets" or other "comforting" objects. (Many other professionals also see a correlation between lack of empathic care in the first 3 years of life and problems in adolescence and adulthood, such as addictions, delinquency, sexual disturbances and consumerism. Among these are psychiatrists/child advocates Elliott Barker and John Leopold Weil.)
Dr. Walant departs from the traditional psychoanalytic approach that requires an attitude of detachment or aloofness towards the client, as this attitude impedes the healing of those who were not allowed to form a safe and secure attachment to at least one parent in childhood. Dr. Walant uses case studies and excerpts from clients' diaries to show how allowing her clients to form their first secure attachment to her has profound therapeutic benefits as they experience the security and connectedness they did not have in their infancy and childhood. One of the ways in which she facilitates this healthy attachment is by being available to her clients outside of therapy sessions. They seldom call her, but knowing they can makes a huge difference in their recovery. Another way win which she allows secure attachments to form is by providing "immersive moments" in therapy, in which clients feel completely understood, connected and loved. Clients know their feelings will not be discounted or dismissed, and that they are no longer alone. With their new-found ability to turn to people instead of things for good feelings, most of them are able to give up their addictions, finding them a poor substitute for the joys of intimacy, trust, connectedness, love and support. One client, upon experiencing an immersive moment with Dr. Walant, said that the only other time he had felt so "euphorically high" was when he was on cocaine. Because this book has so many implications for the way we do therapy and for the way we treat babies and children, I consider it "must" reading for parents and professionals. Maureen E. McCarthy, Parenting Coach

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for therapists of all theoretical orientations, September 14, 2005

By 

John Viterito (Monmouth Junction, NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Creating the Capacity for Attachment: Treating Addictions and the Alienated Self (Paperback)

With "Creating the Capacity for Attachement: Treating Addictions and the Alienated Self", Karen Walant has authored a volume of enormous importance to all practicing psychotherapists. Combining warmth with brilliant scholarship, Dr. Walant persuasively argues that the phenomenon of normative abuse during childhood (leading to attachment disorders) correlates significantly with addictive behavior later in life. Her use of case studies interspersed throughout the volume brings to life her theories regarding the need for the therapist and client to restore the client's lost capacity for attachement. Walant's book has enabled me to look at my work as a cognitive-behavior therapist from a complimentary paradigm that will enrich my therapeutic practice. This volume has relevance to clinicians from all schools of theory and practice, including humanistic, existential, psychodynamic, and cognitive perspectives. Highly recommended.