The Applications of Attachment Theory to Psychotherapy

Security (re)gained: attachment as a therapeutic modality

This lecture outlines the qualities of an attachment-informed psychodynamic psychotherapy, focusing on points of overlap and difference with ‘Independent’ psychoanalytic or relational approaches. 10 key tenets for the application of attachment theory to psychotherapy are proposed: intimacy, the attachment dynamic, loss and separation, the attachment typology, sensitivity, attachment across the life cycle, affect regulation, discourse style, reflexive function, mind-mindedness, mentalizing, rupture and repair. Professor Holmes argues that however secure ones therapeutic ‘secure base’, change entails experiencing, facing and surviving moments of utter vulnerability and helplessness. He elaborates the therapeutic processes that are involved in the move from insecure to more secure patterns of relating – to oneself and others. These include psychotherapy as ‘soft power’, acting as a catalyzt (but not as a reagent) and offering sufficient stability until new equilibrium achieved.