Attachment-based psychotherapy is a branch of relational psychoanalysis exploring emotional forms of attachment from birth onwards.
The theory behind attachment-based psychotherapy can be traced back to the end of the 19th Century, but it's really the work of John Bowlby that has had the most influence.
Bowlby was a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst interested in early child development and the forming of early attachments - secure, anxious, avoidant, ambivalent or disorganised. This led to an understanding of how problematic attachment experiences early on in life are subsequently re-enacted later in adult life.
Bowlby believed that secure and supportive relationships enable us to develop a sense of who we are. A growing attachment-based relationship with a psychotherapist allows the client opportunities to mourn past losses, and explore the impact of important relationships on the client's life in the present and the past.
The theory behind attachment-based psychotherapy can be traced back to the end of the 19th Century, but it's really the work of John Bowlby that has had the most influence.
Bowlby was a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst interested in early child development and the forming of early attachments - secure, anxious, avoidant, ambivalent or disorganised. This led to an understanding of how problematic attachment experiences early on in life are subsequently re-enacted later in adult life.
Bowlby believed that secure and supportive relationships enable us to develop a sense of who we are. A growing attachment-based relationship with a psychotherapist allows the client opportunities to mourn past losses, and explore the impact of important relationships on the client's life in the present and the past.
