Using Family Attachment Narrative Therapy to Heal the Wounds of Twinship: A Case Study of an 11-Year-Old Boy

Child Adolesc Soc Work J (2008) 25:367383

DOI 10.1007/s10560-008-0132-2

Itzhak Lander

Published online: 2 July 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2008

Abstract This paper describes the utilization of Family Attachment Narrative Therapy with an 11-year-old boy experiencing signicant behavioral and developmental problems emerging from his experience of identical twinship and associated parental failure. This innovative treatment model is demonstrated to be a useful tool for changing the childs faulty self narrative resulting in improved functioning. The critical element of the reworked schema is the perception of self as complete, adequate, worthy and cherished. Family Attachment Narrative Therapy is also shown to facilitate increased parental attunement to the childs inner state and parent-child bonding. This study highlights the unique developmental challenges facing young twins and the related complexity of the parental role.

Keywords Family attachment narrative therapy Twins Internal working model

Family Attachment Narrative Therapy challenged the prevailing view that maltreated children would respond positively once no longer exposed to abuse and neglect. It acknowledged the need for a corresponding change in the childs inner world, in particular how the child views himself, in order to continue forward on the developmental path. This contention was supported by increased recognition of the inuence on childrens functioning of those cognitive schema that evolve out of early experiences with caregivers and which come to function for the child as sets of expectations of how he will behave and be responded to by others (Wachtel 2001). The attainment of positive internal working models enables children to

I. Lander

Department of Social Work, Sapir Academic College, Sderot, Israel

I. Lander (&)

Nachman Avigad 9/2, Beer Sheva, Israel e-mail: [email protected]

Using Family Attachment Narrative Therapy to Heal the Wounds of Twinship: A Case Study of an 11-Year-Old Boy

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initiate and interpret life experiences in a manner that will promote solution construction and personal growth (Cunningham and Page 2001). Family Attachment Narrative Therapy emphasized how the childs ability to construct a coherent self narrative was dependent upon the nature of the emotional tie with his caregivers. A satisfactory bond enables that reective dialog which facilitates a resilient perspective in the child. In the absence of adequate parental attunement and communication, life narratives developed tend to be incoherent and chaotic....