The treatment of suicide in young adults with Attachment-based Family Therapy

Attachment-based Family Therapy (ABFT) is a promising, psychotherapeutic approach for suicidal adolescents that focuses on strengthening the relationship between the adolescent and his parents. Attachment-based Family Therapy is based on attachment theory, which assumes that adolescents and young adults can develop depressive problems when there is a lot of stress in their lives (at school, with friends, at home) and they do not feel they can turn to their parents (or other caregivers) for support. The problems can begin to feel so hopeless that young people eventually begin to think that only suicide can offer a way out. In ABFT, therapists work with both the adolescent and the parents to help adolescents share their problems with their parents and to help parents support their child in such a way that they feel understood and heard. Attachment-based Family Therapy strengthens the bonds between family members and reduces the opportunity for stress to take over. A large Dutch-Belgian multicenter RCT study on the (cost) effectiveness of ABFT for suicidal young adults will be coordinated and conducted by the PhD student. The study will compare offering ABFT on top of standard treatment with standard treatment. The study will be conducted from the Amsterdam UMC at the University of Amsterdam and KU Leuven. The PhD student will be assigned to both universities but will work mainly from KU Leuven. The PhD student will work closely with the Dutch PhD student on this project. A total of 13 mental health institutions in the Netherlands and Belgium are participating in this study.