by Ken Benau, Onno van der Hart

Key words: attachment trauma, disorganized attachment, traumatic disintegration, dissociation, psychotherapy

Farina and Schimmenti (2025a) have made a major contribution to furthering our understanding of early developmental trauma and its serious, long-term, psychosocial effects, while pointing toward therapeutic approaches deeply informed by their rich conceptualization of attachment trauma (AT) and clinical acumen. The authors’ impressive review and integration of a wealth of developmental and clinical research has led them to propose a sophisticated yet clear definition of AT, as well as important notions on its relationship with disorganized attachment (DA) and a helicopter view on its treatment. We identify several appreciations of the authors’ conceptualization and applications to clinical practice; offer suggestions for further clarification and expansion of ideas; and finally propose how we might “continue the conversation” with an emphasis on clinical theory and practice, past, present, and future. Farina and Schimmenti are to be strongly commended for providing a solid foundation from which to pursue, with greater clarity and intention, our field’s ever-deepening and hope-engendering understanding and treatment of survivors of AT, for patients, therapists, and concerned loved ones.