Attachment Therapy Using Deliberate Restraint: An Object Lesson on the Identification of Unvalidated Treatments

TOPIC: An unusual and potentially dangerous intervention called attachment therapy, used for children and adolescence. PURPOSE: To help clinicians understand the nature of attachment therapy and the ways in which it exemplifies unvalidated treatment approaches. SOURCES: Internet and published articles on evaluation of treatments. CONCLUSIONS: Attachment therapy has many characteristics associated with warning signals of an unvalidated treatment. Mental health professionals have responsibilities to educate individuals and the community about unvalidated treatments such as attachment therapy and to work toward legislation and policy change to make such treatments unavailable.