Affect Regulation and the Development of Psychopathology

This pioneering work sets forth an important new model for understanding the development of psychopathology. Bridging the gap between psychodynamically and biologically oriented perspectives, noted clinician-researcher Susan J. Bradley synthesizes extensive evidence from studies of attachment, temperament, neurobiology, psychotherapy, stress, and trauma. The book establishes the centrality of emotional arousal--and the failure to regulate this arousal--in the development, recurrence, and maintenance of behavioral disorders, affective spectrum disorders, and the psychoses. Attention is given to the interplay of brain processes, individual differences, and transactional factors (including caregiver behaviors) in the growth of the capacity to manage the experience and expression of affect. Also considered are ways that affect and its regulation are addressed by various models of psychotherapy, and implications for understanding patient resistance to change. The book is unique in demonstrating the significance of a developmental perspective for understanding not only childhood disorders, but adult psychopathology as well. It will be invaluable as a resource for mental health practitioners, students, and researchers, and as a text in graduate-level courses.