I recently received a review of my book A Short Introduction to Attachment and Attachment Disorder by Child Psychiatrist at Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital in London, Dr Danya Glaser. The review appeared in Adoption and Fostering in 2010. Dr Glaser is co-author of the similarly-titled book Understanding Attachment and Attachment Disorder, which was published in 2006.

In her review, Dr Glaser briefly refers to the content of the book, chapter by chapter. She acknowledges that the book contains a small number of helpful strategies for caregivers of very difficult children and that it is well-structured. However, she unfairly criticises the use of the term “attachment disorder” in the book and what I refer to as its clinical features. At no point does she acknowledge the fact that the book summarises a vast and diverse literature into a broadly accessible book; nor does she make mention of the fact that the book unifies behavioral, developmental, analytic and neurobiological literatures related to trauma and attachment into a succinct and accessible book that extends what has already been written about the clinical features of attachment disorders.

Most significantly, I find it puzzling that Dr Glaser did not declare a conflict of interest and defer to another when asked to review my book, given the presence of her own similarly titled book in the marketplace.