Theories of adult attachment provide new perspectives for understanding, studying, and changing an adult's ability to form life-sustaining personal relationships. Asserting that patterns of social and asocial behavior are strategies for coping with issues of attachment, the authors of this book demonstrate the unique merits of adult attachment theory both as a means for investigating social behavior and as a construct to guide clinical practice. They describe the characteristics and role of attachment in the adult years, offer an authoritative exposition of the essential concepts of attachment theory, and present thoughtful and creative proposals for its further development. As such, this illuminating work represents an important first step toward the classification of adult attachment theory as a field of study in its own right. The book first defines reciprocal attachment relationships for adults using criteria that are congruent with the definition for infants and children. Detailed case studies illustrate the clinical relevance of attachment as an organization | Patterns of Relating by Malcolm L. West, Hardcover | Indigo Chapters