The Circle of Security Intervention: Enhancing Attachment in Early Parent-Child Relationships

In order to elucidate the profundity of The Circle of Security Intervention (COSI) by Bert Powell, Glen Cooper, and Kent Hoffman, I would like to paraphrase a quote that Albert Einstein wrote to Niehls Bohr regarding quantum mechanics: The opposite of a simple truth is falsity. The opposite of a profound truth is another profound truth. The reason for employing this hermeneutic in reviewing COSI is because this work's simplicity (a profound truth) is its brilliance (another profound truth). In COSI, Powell et al. make the complexities of care-giver and child attachment highly accessible. Their protocol for helping caregivers to form secure attachment bonds with their children offers a very practical approach grounded in decades of research on attachment theory. COSI represents a proven and effective program that will not doubt empower practitioners working to facilitate secure attachment between care-givers and their children. Moreover, Powell et al. utilize a precision in nomenclature that de-pathologizes insecure attachment in such a way that will provide the aforementioned practitioners with a practical language to aid care-givers in facing and overcoming their own relational dynamics that cause their children to form maladapted relational patterns that will follow them throughout their lives. In this context, COSI is the perfect text for undergraduate and graduate classes that explore attachment theory. Furthermore, social workers, mental health counselors, psychologists, and social service agencies would do well to engage this text and search for ways to implement COSI as a part of their best practices.In light of the above, the golden nugget hidden within this river of wisdom are what Powell et al. refer to as the "core sensitivities." The core sensitivities represent primordial needs for esteem, safety, and autonomy-within-relatedness and relatedness-within-autonomy in relationships to others. Building upon the personality theory of their late mentor, Dr. James F. Masterson, Powell et al. contend that deprivation of any one of these three basic human needs, especially during infancy and early childhood, constitutes the intrapsychic foundations that form a core sensitivity to either needing to garner a supply of esteem from others (Esteem Sensitive), being highly sensitive to relational separation (Separation Sensitive), or vigilantly focused upon to safety in relationships (Safety Sensitive). In so doing, the authors outline a continuum of personality dynamics that correspond to Narcissistic (Esteem Sensitive), Borderline (Separation Sensitive), and Schizoid (Safety Sensitive) Personality Disorders respectively. However, by postulating that these personality dynamics lie on a continuum, they make Masterson's theory much more universal regarding the frailty of the human condition and much more relevant to psychotherapists due to the fact that very few individuals have a full-blown personality disorder. While other psychological theorists have attempted to do so with the Borderline and Narcissistic personality disorders, these author's insight into safety sensitivity based upon the Schizoid Personality Disorder represents a unique insight into the psychological underpinnings that impede healthy relationships in adulthood. Thus, those who embrace this work will not only receive an excellent and practical framework for helping care-givers and their children develop a secure attachment bond, they will also be introduced to a way of understanding maladapted relational procedures of the adults with whom they work.

This is, quite simply, a fantastic book. As a researcher in the field of attachment theory, I'm always excited to share with new parents, but I've always struggled to find the appropriate book to recommend--most are too filled with jargon to be relevant across the board. The Circle of Security Intervention fixes this; its authors take the latest science of attachment theory and synthesize it in a way that is easily understood, full of examples that illustrate the major points, and clear directions for a variety of situations. It's a quick read, and it is so utterly applicable to one's own life that I found myself unable to put it down for long stretches of time. I use the materials within the book when I teach developmental psychology, and I use the insights to help make sense of my interactions with others (and to better understand myself). I have already given a copy of this book to a close friend who is expecting his first child, and could think of no better gift for a new parent. The recent media focus on attachment parenting doesn't quite do its intricacies justice; this book serves as a wonderful balance between information and practice, and clarifies many of the lingering questions I've often had about the theory more generally. I could not recommend this book more highly to anyone interested in parenting, relationships, or attachment theory--it has a special place on my bookshelf, and will stay there for many years to come.

This book makes attachment theory accessible and relevant to all readers. Attachment researchers will gain new insights from how the authors bring core theoretical concepts to life in their Circle of Security program. The book illustrates how standardized research paradigms such as the Strange Situation and Adult Attachment Interview can be adapted to assess problems in attachment relationships, inform clinical decisions and tailor interventions for caregivers. The COS program also provides compelling examples of how caregiver sensitivities and defenses are inextricably linked to how a parent reads and responds to a child’s signals.For clinicians, this book provides extensive guidance and wisdom that is grounded in the authors’ many years of experience in developing and teaching the COS program. The authors convey a deep respect for caregivers and of the challenges that clients face in changing perceptions of themselves and their children. They give new meaning to the notion of “being with” their clients. The authors have succeeded at finding words and examples that effectively communicate attachment concepts to parents. In short, readers from all backgrounds will come to a deeper understanding of the how problems develop and can be repaired in parent-child relationships.

A more intellectual version of the "raising a secure child" version, so more for the facilitators of the Circle of Security program.As a caveat, it is hard for me to distinguish a review of this book from doing the course as a parent, and now having done the program to become a trained facilitator. As a whole the Circle of Security is amazing.As with the program, this is a fabulous way of developing more empathy for yourself as a parent and for your child/ren.I have studied attachment theory throughout my studies as a doctor and trainee psychiatrist, and this program summed it up so well I felt like I had wasted a lot of time learning the more complicated version which ends up being very confusing.The stories of the authors are very inspiring. They've worked with so many experts in the field and are clearly experts themselves.

I am addicted to this book, my passion is 'attachment' I refer many times to the book, a great read.

Love the concepts but VERY dry read! Very hard to get through, which is a shame because the program itself is amazing!

Wonderful thorough overview of the Circle of Security, with overview of the theory, as well as practical comprehensive intervention ideas. Circle of Security is the missing piece to 0-6 mental health intervention.

Would recommend for parents before and during parenting.

Every parent should take this life-changing parenting program. Changing from focusing on behavior to focusing on relationship is the key to having secure children.