The Influence of Individual Attachment Styles on Group Members’ Experience of Therapist Transitions (original) (raw)
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Psychotherapy Research, 2014
Objective: We examined the associations between client attachment, client attachment to the therapist, and symptom change, as well as the effects of client-therapist attachment match on outcome. Clients (n = 67) and their therapists (n = 27) completed the ECR to assess attachment. Method: Clients completed also the Client Attachment to Therapist scale three times (early, middle, and late sessions) and the OQ-45 at intake and four times over the course of a year of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Results: Clients characterized by avoidant attachment and by avoidant attachment to their therapist showed the least improvement. A low-avoidant client-therapist attachment match led to a greater decrease in symptom distress than when a low-avoidant therapist treated a high-avoidant client. Conclusions: These findings suggest the importance of considering client-therapist attachment matching and the need to pay attention to the special challenges involved in treating avoidant clients in order to facilitate progress in psychotherapy.
Empirical research on attachment in group psychotherapy: moving the field forward
Psychotherapy (Chicago, Ill.), 2014
Despite a large literature applying attachment to individual, family, and couple psychotherapy, it has taken much longer for clinicians to apply attachment theory to group psychotherapy. The lack of research attention in this area makes these three studies in this special section even more important to the field. They contribute significant findings that have the potential to help group leaders facilitate more cohesive and effective treatments for patients as well as move the field forward. Not only do we see the long-term impact of group treatment for those with insecure attachments, but we also learn how attachment anxiety impacts the group process, and how the attachment to the therapy group itself relates to changes in group member's personal attachment styles. The greatest contribution is the drawing of our attention to the many future studies that are needed to fully understand how group therapy facilitates change and how attachment theory plays a critical role in this pro...
Therapists' Group Attachments and their Expectations of Patients' Attitudes about Group Therapy
International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 2006
A large body of literature has supported the application of attachment theory to the understanding of psychotherapy. In addition, a more recent social psychological literature is exploring the application of attachment theory to the area of group dynamics and group process. The current study is designed to integrate these two distinct bodies of literature. In a preliminary fashion, we examined the relationship between group therapists' group attachment styles and their assumptions and expectations of their patients' attitudes about group psychotherapy. Seventy-six therapists completed the Smith, Murphy & Coats (1999) measure of group attachment style. They also completed the Revised Group Therapy Survey (Carter, Mitchell, & Krautheim, 2001) from the viewpoint of a typical patient they treat. As hypothesized, therapists with more group attachment anxiety assumed that patients would hold more negative myths and misconceptions about
Changing Attachments: The Client-Therapist Relationship and Outcome
2020
From the perspective of attachment theory (Bowlby, 1988), this study examined if client attachment to therapist developed over the course of psychotherapy and if changes in attachment to therapist were associated with treatment outcomes. Clients (N = 112), receiving psychodynamic therapy from trainee therapists (N = 29), completed the Client Attachment to Therapist Scale (Mallinckrodt, Gantt, & Coble, 1995) and the Outcome Questionnaire-45 (Lambert et al., 1996) at baseline and every eighth session. Multilevel linear growth curve analyses showed that secure attachment to therapist increased and avoidant-fearful attachment to therapist decreased. Multilevel linear regression showed that when within-client secure attachment to therapist was higher, subsequent symptoms improved more. Clientlevel and therapist-level effects were explored. Results suggest that the development of a secure attachment to therapist is important for positive treatment outcomes. Implications for practice and research are discussed.
Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 2005
The aims of this study were to explore the relationship between therapists' selfreported attachment styles and therapeutic orientation with the self-reported general therapeutic alliance and therapist-reported problems in psychological therapy. A sample of 491 psychotherapists from differing therapeutic orientations responded to a postal questionnaire. The questionnaire contained standardized measures of therapeutic alliance quality, attachment behaviours, a checklist of problems in therapy, and a brief personality inventory. Therapist-reported attachment styles generally explained a significant additional proportion of the variance in alliance and problems in therapy, over and above variance explained by general personality variables. Self-reported secure attachment style was significantly positively correlated with therapist-reported general good alliance. Self-reported anxious attachment styles were significantly negatively correlated with good alliance, and significantly positively correlated with the number of therapistreported problems in therapy. Therapeutic orientation independently predicted a small but significant amount of the variance in reported general alliance quality in addition to that explained by attachment behaviours. It is now widely believed that comparable outcomes are achieved by different therapies despite differences in their underlying assumptions about the development of psychological dysfunction, and in therapeutic techniques employed (e.g. Horvath &
Attachment Style Changes Following Intensive Short-term Group Psychotherapy
International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 2013
In this study, we examined changes in attachment style as measured by the Relationship Scales Questionnaire before and after six weeks of intensive group psychotherapy. We also investigated whether changes in attachment style were associated with changes in interpersonal functioning. Results indicated that participants showed increases in secure attachment and decreases in fearful attachment and, to a lesser degree, preoccupied attachment styles. Change was not found in the dismissive attachment style. Changes in Secure and/or Fearful (but not Preoccupied) attachment styles were related to changes in interpersonal functioning on seven of the eight subscales of the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems. Overall findings suggest intensive group psychotherapy programs show promise for reducing attachment pathology and improving interpersonal functioning. Assessing differential responsiveness to psychotherapy may help us align our interventions to better address differing attachment styles through modifications in focus and approach.
Attachment and Interpersonal Theory and Group Therapy: Two Sides of the Same Coin
International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, 2017
Attachment and interpersonal theories and therapies have significant overlap, in terms of both theoretical underpinnings and overlapping factor structure of the instruments used. This article discusses how group theories and therapies utilize this common conceptual framework both in well-established and newer approaches. In the last 20 years, attachment theory has been empirically linked to adult functioning, psychopathology, and psychotherapy. It has grown to inform couples, family, individual, and more recently group therapy, with the contributions in this issue outlining how science can inform practice. This article will explore how attachment can be integrated with one of the most common group theories, interpersonal theory, and demonstrate how these two therapies are, in fact, two sides of the same coin.