The Applications of Attachment Theory to Psychotherapy

Attachment, disorganized attachment and aggression

In this lecture, Dr Frank Lachmann elaborates and distinguishes between two streams of empirical infant research: one, a dyadic systems view of mother-infant communication using video microanalysis. The other, study of attachment styles based on the baby’s response to the strange situation test. He summarizes the differences between these two streams and then reports on how they can flow together in longitudinal research that predicts dissociation and borderline pathology in young adults from disorganized attachment at 1 year. Finally, he discusses some of the implications of these longitudinal findings for the psychotherapeutic treatment of adult patients.