2017/01/02 by Lorrie L. Brubacher · 12 citations
Psychology · Medicine · #Attachment and Relationship Dynamics #Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics #Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications #Perspective (graphical) #Experiential learning #Systemic therapy #Psychotherapist #Psychology #Medicine #Computer science #Artificial intelligence #Internal medicine #Cancer
paper · doi:10.1080/14779757.2017.1297250
published in Person-Centered & Experiential Psychotherapies 16(1), 50-67 (Taylor & Francis)
openalex publication_date 2017/01/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/11
Attachment theory as a theory of adult love and emotion regulation can provide a humanistic paradigm for therapeutic change that is relevant to a broad range of presenting problems. I advocate emotionally focused individual therapy, an attachment-based experiential/systemic integration that targets concerns common across various models of individual psychotherapy: creating secure attachment, resolving negative interpersonal and intrapsychic interactive patterns, and developing effective emotion regulation strategies. I suggest that attachment theory sets the stage from which to consider individual therapy as a process of love (developing secure connections) between therapist and client, between client and past and present relationships, and within the client’s internal processes. I present principles of attachment, discuss how these principles can fruitfully shape the therapeutic relationship, define the destination for change, offer guidance for working with emotion and shape interventions and change processes. The change processes which I present and illustrate with a case example are as follows: (1) identifying patterns of emotion regulation and deepening the underlying emotion and (2) creating corrective emotional experiences that can transform these patterns into secure bonds interpersonally and intrapsychically.