The Applications of Attachment Theory to Psychotherapy

Attachment theory, the therapeutic relationship and the process of change: an integrationist perspective

Research in the fields of developmental psychology, neurobiology and cognitive neuroscience are helping to deepen our understanding of the therapeutic relationship and the process of change. In this talk, Attachment-based psychoanalytical psychotherapist Paul Renn illuminates the way in which attachment theory and research can be integrated with data from related disciplines and applied to our clinical work. He argues that a key aspect of therapeutic action consists in the modification of implicit memories that motivate the procedures underpinning habitual ways of experiencing self with other. This therapeutic process is illustrated with a clinical vignette.