Dorothy Heard is a pyschoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice and was formerly a Consultant in John Bowlby's Department at the Tavistock Clinic, London. Brian Lake was formerly Consultant in Psychotherapy at St James's University Hospital, Leeds

• The conceptual base for a theory of companionable caregiving -- A caregiving focus to an extension of attachment theory -- Caregiving from an evolutionary perspective -- Human non-verbal and symbolic communication and two alternative patterns of relating -- Bowlby's model for instinctive behaviour - based on the concept of goal-corrected behavioural systems -- Extensions to Bowlby's model of instinctive behaviour -- The emergence of high-order systems of the self -- The construction of a theory of companionable caregiving -- Categorising the functions of instinctive systems of the self with comments on their development -- From behavioural systems to adult relationships by way of internal working models -- How values are acquired and assigned to oneself, people and other entities -- Implicit concepts of caregiving in the development of the concept of self/ego ideals -- Values and ideals in promoting maturation and well-being -- Principles of therapy guided by an attachment-based theory of caregiving -- Theories used by therapists that implicitly or explicitly incorporate the caregiving aspects of attachment -- Assessment -- The therapeutic alliance and the creation of a safe base for personal development -- Separation anxiety, impingement and the therapeutic frame -- The Strange Situation Test -- The adult attachment interview -- An outline of the emergence of the study of attachment style in adults -- Questionnaire about a prospective client for assessors to complete after assessment: to be used in association with the assessment procedure described in Chapter 13