The Applications of Attachment Theory to Psychotherapy

Attachment and Intimacy in Adulthood – Part I

Setting this presentation in the context of the attachment research of John Bowlby and Mary Main, Christopher Clulow offers a detailed explication of the application of attachment theory to couple psychotherapy. Working on the premise that attachment can be activated in dyadic relationships throughout life, he asks three key questions: How can we conceptualize adult couple relationships in attachment terms? What is the function of attachment for couples? What implications for therapeutic practice follow from this? In answering these, Christopher Clulow examines patterns of approach and avoidance, reciprocity and flexibility, caregiving, sexuality, mutual affect-regulation and other markers of secure or insecurely attached couples. Finally, he considers the implications for therapeutic practice, examining the role of therapist as a secure base, as a mirror, decoder and regulator of the ‘couple as the patient’.