Using Jones’s Integration Approach to Accommodate Attachment-Based Family Therapy to Christian Treatment of Depression in Adolescence

Abstract

The overarching goal of this article was to practice a faith-integration process focused on an empirically supported, family-based treatment approach for adolescent depression, Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT). First, we describe the ABFT treatment model and evaluate the extant empirical support for its use. Next, using the theological framework by Balswick and Balswick (2007), we investigate a scriptural understanding of healthy family functioning. Finally, we engage in a dialogical process that includes a critical evaluation and constructive modification of ABFT, based on the previous investigation of empirical, theological, and scriptural sources of knowledge. We found that the goals and treatment approach of ABFT are consistent with biblical and theological notions of healthy family functioning, and we suggested two modifications that might enhance services to Christian populations. Thus, we provide specific recommendations for accommodating a particular treatment (ABFT) to Christians, and, at a general level, we encourage Christian mental health providers to engage in their own process of practical integration, such as demonstrated in this article, to inform their clinical use of interventions supported by clinical psychological science.