Rudi Dallos

University of Plymouth | UoP · Institute of Health and Social Care

The paper explores the experience of mentoring for a group of 18 disadvantaged young people taking part in the PromiseWorks mentoring programme in the Southwest of the UK. It builds on previous studies which showed that the young people in the scheme found mentoring to be valuable in building a positive relationship of trust, mutual understanding a...

This paper describes the development of systemic therapies in a Specialist Perinatal Mental Health Service (SPMHS) that developed Attachment Narrative Therapy (ANT) specifically for families in the perinatal stage of the family life cycle. ANT offers a good fit in the perinatal period, integrating systemic family therapy, narrative therapy, and att...

Despite the growing recognition of the importance of supportive teacher–student relationships to create safety for young people who have experienced early adversity and trauma, there is not a clear understanding of what factors make for positive school relationships and how these can be fostered. The aims of the study were to explore how children w...

This chapter employs Attachment Narrative Therapy (ANT) to focus on the experience of loss and bereavement. An underlying formulation of this chapter is that loss can be seen as an inevitable part of the ‘family life cycle’. ANT is described to show how relationships where revision of attachment relationships is promoted may also lead to growth and...

The chapter offers an overview of the conceptual basis of Attachment Narrative Therapy (ANT) and recent developments in the theory and practical implications. The core framework is outlined in terms of the integrations between systemic, attachment and narrative theory and clinical perspectives. The ANT approach is described in terms of how it offer...

This chapter draws on the Attachment Narrative Therapy formulation of triangulation, which adds to it the centrality of the attachment process in which the child may have different and insecure relationships with each parent or carer, but also how they respond to insecurity generated by the relationship between their parents. In effect the child is...

The paper offers an exploration of triadic attachment dynamics in families with a child with a diagnosis of autism. The Meaning of the Child (MotC) framework was employed as part of a multiple case study design with 18 parents (9 couples) in order to examine their representation of parenting and relationship with their child. The MotC analysis empl...

Systemic Autism-related Family Enabling (SAFE) is a new intervention for families of children with a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). SAFE responds to international and national recommendations for improved care and the reported needs of families. SAFE draws from Family Therapy techniques, Attachment Narrative Therapy and known preferen...

Background Despite a growing body of literature about parents with learning disabilities; there is a paucity of research about experiences of parenting after the removal of a child/children. This study aimed to fill this gap, examining the experiences of that parenting in this context. Method A multiperspective interpretative phenomenological anal...

The article describes a piece of research exploring young people’s experience of a mentoring service (PROMISE). The scheme has been developed to offer vulnerable young people a supportive relationship to assist their lives. This article explores the nature of the mentoring relationship, including how mentors and mentees view its development. Conjoi...

Objectives To establish the feasibility of a definitive randomised controlled trial of Systemic Autism-related Family Enabling (SAFE), an intervention for families of children with autism. Design A randomised, controlled, multicentred feasibility study. Setting Participants were identified from three National Health Service (NHS) diagnosing centr...

This paper proposes that clinical practice based on psychiatric diagnoses and categories of harmful behavior may be inadequate at best and harmful at worst. An alternative model of functional family formulations is proposed based on exposure to danger, developmental processes around danger, information processing regarding danger, and strategies fo...

The original version of this article unfortunately contained errors in the “Abstract”, “Introduction”, “Formulation” and “References.”

The article examines the experience of parenting a child with a diagnosis of autism with a focus on scripts and intentions in relation to the parents’ own childhood experiences of being parented. Five parents participated in a multiple case study design involving in-depth interviews, Adult Attachment Interviews and a parenting intentions scaling ta...

The study explored the narratives and attachment profiles of eight young men who had engaged in harmful sexual behaviour (HSB) and four of their parents. A multiple-case design was utilised which included information from interviews; Transition to Adulthood Attachment Interviews (TAAI) and the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). The findings indicate...

This study interviewed fathers of young infants to explore their experiences and understandings of their parental roles; comparing these with observations of them interacting with their baby, using an attachment lens. Analysis of interviews revealed key themes about fathers’ experiences of being parented and in their turn, parenting, which linked t...

This article examines the experiences of birth children with a foster child (or children) in their family. Specifically, it explores how birth children’s attachment history influences how they discuss their emotional needs and the ways in which attachment strategies help shape the nature of the children’s accounts of their experiences. Eight birth...

Introduction Incidence of autistic traits, mental health problems, stress and poor coping is high among family members of children with autism. These problems are coupled with challenging behaviour among children with autism. Current treatment for these families is disjointed and costly. The need for whole family support is supported by the Nationa...

This research used a multimethod design to explore the narratives of seven parents of young people with a diagnosis of first episode psychosis. Findings revealed narratives in which parents described a range of adverse experiences in their childhoods and attempts were made to "normalise” these events. The core narrative themes that emerged from the...

The gender roles and identity of siblings have been found to be an important factor in the nature and quality of sibling relationships. With an increasing number of young people identifying as gender-diverse or transgender, this research aimed to develop a greater understanding of how young people make sense of their siblings’ gender diversity. Sem...

This article reports on a multi-methods longitudinal evaluation of the PROMISE mentoring scheme which was developed in Somerset UK to offer a continuing relationship for vulnerable young people with a volunteer mentor. The overall findings indicate that mentoring was experienced very positively and contributed to both fostering a sense of trust and...

Recent years have shown a welcome trend in the number of people surviving cancer. The impact of cancer survival has focused primarily on the patient perspective, and limited research has explored the effect of parental cancer on children. No research to date can be found which explores children’s experiences of parental cancer from a narrative pers...

When a child has a life-limiting illness, parental involvement is amplified, having to respond to the increased needs of the child. Both parents are affected by the illness, yet research has largely under-represented fathers’ experiences of their child’s illness. Seven fathers were interviewed about their experiences with their child’s life-limitin...

The research explored the experience and understandings expressed by parents of children with autism concerning ‘meltdowns’, which are commonly described as distressing, escalating episodes of conflicts. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with six parents of children with a diagnosis of autism regarding their experience of ‘meltdowns’. Paren...

Purpose Case formulation has gained increasing prominence as a guide to intervention across a range of clinical problems. It offers a contrasting orientation to diagnosis and its value is considered in the context of clinical work with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD). The purpose of this paper is to argue that case formulation integrating attach...

This article explores overlap of symptoms between autism and attachment difficulties and suggests innovative solutions based on formulation. Currently, clinicians express difficulties in differentiating between these conditions contributing to misdiagnosis. Research into the prevalence of attachment difficulties among children with autism often fai...

The study explored the experience of triadic family relationships of six young women with a diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa alongside a consideration of their attachment strategies. The research methods employed semi-structured individual interviews, a family sculpt and use of an adapted version of the Adolescent Separation Anxiety Test (SAT). This a...

Families waiting for an Autism Spectrum Condition assessment often experience difficulties explaining, or making sense of, the referred young person’s behaviour. Little is known about this sense making, or how clinicians might support this ambiguity. This paper explored finite details of how five families do ‘sense-making’ in conversations with eac...

This article explores the feasibility of running "PremieStart," a nine-individual-session maternal-premature infant interaction program, within a neonatal unit (NNU) in England. Four mothers of premature infants completed seven sessions on the NNU and two at home. Mothers and NNU staff provided feedback on PremieStart. Measures of maternal-infant r...

This study looks at the stories that foster carers and the young people in their care jointly construct as they engage in discussion about their relationship. The research aimed to explore both the meanings that they hold regarding the development of this relationship and the patterns of contributions they make as they engage in their conversations...

The study explored children's experience of triangulation in their families. In all, 15 children aged 11-16 years, who were attending an early intervention family therapy service, participated in the study. The children's understandings and emotional experience of triangulation were explored by comparing their responses to pictures from the Separat...

Given the essentially interpersonal nature of eating and food, it is perhaps interesting to note that eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa (henceforth anorexia) have typically been considered an intra-psychic phenomenon. This has featured conceptualisations, such as distorted body image, internalisation of gendered expectations of slimness in...

This study explores reflective functioning (RF) in foster carers using the Parent Development Interview. A mixed-methods design was employed in eliciting personal accounts of fostering by carers alongside an assessment of their RF. Results suggest that the carers displayed varying levels of RF and specifically that the elements of reflection that m...

The concept of triangulation has been one of the conceptual cornerstones of systemic therapy (Minuchin, 1974; Palazzoli et al., 1978; Dallos & Draper, 2009). It represents the basis of a fundamental shift from linear to systemic thinking and offers the suggestion that triads rather than individuals or dyads are the fundamental building blocks of fa...

Anger and its treatment is a major issue in a variety of contexts, although it remains underexplored. In this study 10 young people completed semi-structured interviews and repertory grids. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) and repertory grid analysis were conducted. Findings consistently indicated that anger is a more similar than dif...

This article reports on a 1-year follow-up study exploring changes in attachment security of children placed in long-term therapeutic foster care over three data collection time points. A group of eight children (age 14 to 17) were assessed over a period of 1 year using a modified version of the Separation Anxiety Test (SAT). Interviews were also c...

This study explored mothers' narratives about having a child with cancer through the novel addition of an attachment lens. Six mothers were interviewed about their experiences. Their pattern of attachment was assessed through a separate interview using the Dynamic-Maturational Model of adult attachment. The results showed marked differences in them...

This pilot study explores young people’s experience of leaving care in the United Kingdom. It draws on qualitative data obtained from two focus groups, one with young people and another with professionals, as well as ethnographical and autoethnographical data from the researcher. The data were subject to separate thematic analyses and key themes id...

Research on the effects of experiencing a bomb attack has yielded considerable literature on related mental health matters. However, there is a paucity of studies looking at the psychological consequences and mental health effects following bombing attacks specifically in relation to civilians in Iraq. This qualitative study involving 11 adults (M=...

This review gathers together and synthesises research relating to young people's experiences of social support during their transition from state care. A systematic approach was used to identify relevant studies published since 2001 and forty-seven were found which met the inclusion criteria. Relevant key themes were identified and consolidated und...

This paper offers research case studies of four severely maltreated children who had received a diagnosis of autistic spectrum disorder. A range of measures were employed to explore the children's psychological and emotional functioning, including Theory of Mind assessment (Sally-Anne Test), attachment measures (Story Stems Assessment Profile and R...

Accessible summary Tells story of a woman with learning disability and cancer. Highlights importance of research with people with learning disabilities. Promotes people with learning disabilities as reliable research participants. Summary With increasing longevity amongst people with learning disabilities, it is not surprising that prevalence and...

This study explored how four families who were in the midst of the process of a potential diagnosis of ‘Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder’ (ADHD) for their child negotiated competing explanations of the problems. The research drew on a social constructionist, systemic and attachment lens to understand; (a) the constellations of meanings that...

Past research suggests that dementia care staff are vulnerable to the development of burnout, which has implications for staff well-being and hence the quality of care for people with dementia. Studying personal vulnerability factors in burnout is important as it can guide staff training and support. Attachment theory suggests that adult attachment...

There is a dearth of literature that explores the subjective experiences of women beyond the age of 20 diagnosed with anorexia. This collaborative research inquiry portrays the life experiences of four such women. A narrative research design was employed to capture the subjective experiences of the women and to allow some comparisons between them t...

This paper is a qualitative exploration of the relationship themes between a father and his daughter, when she has an eating disorder. It aims to explore the different themes within three father/daughter dyad interviews, to determine commonalities and trans-generational experiences. The Adult Attachment Interview was carried out with each of the pa...

Whilst research has looked at posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and psychiatric co-morbidity among civilians exposed to bombing, there is a lack of longitudinal data on the development of these outcomes and the psychological factors associated with them, particularly among Iraqi civilians. This study aimed to: investigate 1) the trajectory of PT...

This article reviews the usefulness of the systemic concept of triangulation as a bridge between systemic thinking and practice and attachment theory. Traditionally attachment theory has theorized and researched with dyads, parent‐child and adult romantic partners, whereas systemic theory has worked therapeutically with the triangle as the basic hu...

This study explores clients' and therapists' experiences of cross-cultural psychological therapy with specific reference to issues of race and culture. Three British African-Caribbean psychotherapy clients and their white British therapists took part in one-to-one interviews. A thematic analysis was conducted on their interview transcripts; this dr...

The paper offers a detailed case study of one family taken from a wider research programme investigating the role of family conversational and attachment processes in the development and maintenance of problems labelled as ADHD and self-harm. Individual narrative based attachment assessments and a semi - structured family interview were employed an...

The experiences of eight young women with excess weight were explored using a semi structured interview consisting of open ended questions and also the Child Attachment Interview (CAI). Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis indicated four group themes around participants' experience of having excess weight; emotional regulation, focus on family...

This study explores the way in which adolescents who have engaged in self-harm make sense of their self-harm and its relationship to the events that have occurred in their lives. The six adolescents (aged between 13 and 18 years) who had been engaging in self-harm were invited to tell their life stories. The analysis explored both the content and t...

This article reports the preliminary findings of a study of attachment patterns and relationship themes using the TAAI (Transition to Adulthood Attachment Interview), AAI (Adult Attachment Interview) and family interviews (based on the first of 15 families). Research data is presented on a young man aged 16 with a diagnosis of ADHD and his family....

In contrast with the vast literature on the postnatal psychological difficulties experienced by some mothers, there have been few attempts to study the mental health of fathers in and around the time of the birth of a baby. Using an interpretive phenomenological analysis, this study attempts to map the experience of fathers following the birth of a...

This chapter is based on a qualitative study which used Perceiver Element Grids (Procter, 1996, 2002) to explore interpersonal construing and interactions between fathers and sons, where the son has a diagnosis of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The chapter focuses on an in-depth analysis of the interviews with one family.

The aim of this article is to review the clinical literature which examines the association between attachment patterns and eating disorders with a focus on anorexia nervosa, and to examine the varieties of methods and measures employed in attachment research. A literature review was carried out and the relevant articles are examined in terms of th...

This article brings together ideas from attachment and systemic family therapy. There is both growing interest among systemic practitioners in the conceptual and empirical base of attachment theory and also the need for attachment theory to expand dyadic patterning to include its context in family functioning. We propose the Dynamic-Maturational Mo...

Six female adolescents participated in open-ended interviews regarding their experiences of depression. The transcripts of their interviews were explored using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 1991). The analysis revealed three inter-connected super-ordinate themes which were: communication, hurt self, and difference. These themes c...

This article describes a qualitative research study which used in-depth interviews to elicit young women's narratives about the meanings they hold regarding the important experiences in their lives, and their understandings of the development of difficulties that have led them to be in contact with Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS...

This study explores the personal meaning of head and neck cancer for individuals, with particular reference to the impact on the self. It employs interpretative phenomenological and repertory grid analysis with 10 people, all of whom have undergone surgical treatment for head and ceck cancer. Four themes emerged: namely, destruction of self, altere...

DESCRIPTION Reflective Practice has become established as an essential feature of practice in psychotherapy and counselling in the UK, Europe, USA and some other parts of the world. However, the writing on reflective practice is arguably fragmented and scattered, and much of it is highly theoretical and abstract. This book draws together conceptual...

In this paper we describe how we bring together three major systems of thought: attachment theory; family systems theories; and theories of narrative development, in an integrated approach to systemic practice that we call attachment narrative therapy (ANT). ANT provides a four-stage framework for practice: creating a secure base; exploring narrati...