It explores the psychodynamic theory of attachment and how it can be used to offer new ways of thinking when working with mental disorders in offenders. Discusses the development of personality in terms of interpersonal functioning and relationships with others, which is essential to understand both interpersonal violence and abnormal development.

Foreword, Friedemann Pfäfflin, University of Ulm and Gwen Adshead, Broadmoor Hospital. Part I: Theory. 1. The Developmental Roots of Violence in the Failure of Mentalization, Peter Fonagy, University College London. 2. Attachment Representation, Attachment Style or Attachment Pattern? Usage of Terminology in Attachment Theory, Thomas Ross, University Clinic of Ulm. 3. Fragmented Attachment Representations, Franziska Lamott, University of Ulm, Elisabeth Fremmer-Bombik, Hospital for Child and Youth Psychiatry in Regensburg and Friedemann Pfäfflin. Part II: Clinical Issues 4. The Link Between Childhood Trauma and Later Violent Offending: The Application of Attachment Theory in a Probation Setting, Paul Renn, Centre for Attachment-based Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Part III: Institutional Issues. 5. Three Degrees of Security: Attachment and Forensic Institutions, Gwen Adshead. 6. Forensic Mental Health Nursing: Care with Security in Mind, Anne Aiyegbusi, Broadmoor Hospital. 7. Finding a Secure Base: Attachment in Grendon Prison, Michael Parker, HMP Grendon and Mark Morris, The Portman Clinic. Part IV: Research Data. 8. Attachment Representations and Factitious Illness by Proxy: Relevance for Assesment of Parenting Capacity in Child Maltreatment, Gwen Adshead and Kerry Bluglass, The Woodbourne Clinic. 9.Violence and Attachment: Attachment Styles, Self-regulation and Interpersonal Problems in a Prison Population, Thomas Ross, University Clinic of Ulm and Friedemann Pfäfflin. 10. Attachment Representations and Attachment Styles in Traumatized Women, Franziska Lamott, University of Ulm, Natalie Sammet, cognitive behavioural psychotherapist and Friedemann Pfäfflin, University of Ulm. Conclusion: A Matter of Security. Friedemann Pfäfflin and Gwen Adshead. Subject Index. Author Index.

Friedemann Pfäfflin is a Professor of Psychotherapy and Head of the Forensic Psychotherapy Section at the University of Ulm. Gwen Adshead is a forensic psychiatrist, forensic psychotherapist, forensic researcher and psychiatrist specializing in trauma.