1-360-452-8688

Conflict Science Institute

The science and art of conflict for legal professionals

Contact Us

Please join us for these free Zoom meetings to discuss the science, theory, and application of the DMM. Open to all professionals using, studying, or interested in the DMM. Email us to request an invite (from an individual Coffee House notice page), or join DMM Group Talk to receive regular Coffee House notices and other DMM email discussions. Sessions are held on the first Tuesday of each month. DMM Case Consultations Group sessions are held on the third Tuesday of each month, and are only available for DMM Group Talk members.

DMM Coffee House #123: DMM Theory: shortcomings, criticisms, and rectifying measures

We’ll look critically at the DMM in the last substantive DMM Coffee House session this year. The DMM is powerful and complex, but it is not the theory “to rule them all.” There are also inherent limits to building broad theory with attachment assessments. In the last three years of DMM Coffee House sessions, we…

Continue Reading DMM Coffee House #123: DMM Theory: shortcomings, criticisms, and rectifying measures

DMM Coffee House #122: Coding Kimmel’s Halloween prank as an attachment assessment

How useful is Jimmy Kimmel’s Halloween prank on children as an attachment assessment tool? Copyright Mark Baumann 2022 October moonset from Mt. Rainier Late night host Jimmy Kimmel developed a “comedy” sketch where he invited parents to tell their children the day after Halloween that they had eaten all of their children’s candy, and to…

Continue Reading DMM Coffee House #122: Coding Kimmel’s Halloween prank as an attachment assessment

DMM Coffee House #95: Failures of self-protective attachment strategies

DMM-attachment describes self-protective strategies people use to survive relational danger. When those strategies fail, what forms do they take and what does a failure look like? In how many different types of contexts can we see a failure of self-protection? Do general self-protection failures align with the DMM strategies? What examples do you have of…

Continue Reading DMM Coffee House #95: Failures of self-protective attachment strategies

DMM Coffee House #85: Information transformation in DMM attachment B-strategies

Why aren’t there (or are there?) B or “light”/non-transforming “versions” of all the sub-strategies or how do features of A+ and C+ strategies show up in B1-2 and B4-5 individuals? Do we expect to see less variability among B strategy users considering how many fewer substrategies there are? The A and C strategies each comprise 8 sub-strategies (or…

Continue Reading DMM Coffee House #85: Information transformation in DMM attachment B-strategies

DMM Coffee House #71: Information Processing and transformation of information

On September 7, 2021, we will explore the concepts of information processing and transformation of information, as described by the Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM). We’ll start with an easy and informal discussion of examples of transformation of information (TI). We’ll look at six key information processing (IP) concepts, Crittenden’s 4-step information…

Continue Reading DMM Coffee House #71: Information Processing and transformation of information

DMM Coffee House #64: Radial dimensionality, the intensity of individual DMM attachment strategies

Radial dimensionality is a term to describe self-protective strategy intensity. A question for clinicians is how far from the center and how close to the outer rim are a person’s use of strategies, especially in the context of danger. (Click here to see the DMM Circumplex.) Currently, there is no formal way to assess this…

Continue Reading DMM Coffee House #64: Radial dimensionality, the intensity of individual DMM attachment strategies

DMM Coffee House #56: Unique DMM-attachment informed techniques for working with children, teenagers, adults and parents

11 & 13 May 2021. For clients engaged in attachment-system danger processing, what DMM informed counseling and relational techniques do you find most useful? What techniques have you discovered because of the Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM)? What communication tools are uniquely informed by the DMM? Attachment assessments such as the Adult…

Continue Reading DMM Coffee House #56: Unique DMM-attachment informed techniques for working with children, teenagers, adults and parents

DMM Coffee House #40: A conversation with Kasia Kozlowska on Functional Somatic Symptoms from a DMM perspective

Please join us for conversation with Kasia Kozlowska, who recently co-authored Functional somatic symptoms in children and adolescents:A stress-system approach to assessment and treatment. Their book describes the causes of functional somatic symptoms, using models such as the Dynamic Maturational Model of Attachment and Adaptation (DMM), Interpersonal Neurobiology, and the Polyvagal Theory to describe attachment,…

Continue Reading DMM Coffee House #40: A conversation with Kasia Kozlowska on Functional Somatic Symptoms from a DMM perspective