Attachment and psychotherapy: Implications from empirical research.
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Child and adult patients with attachment anxiety tend to benefit less from psychotherapy across a wide range of treatment modalities.
“child and adult patients with attachment anxiety tend to benefit less from psychotherapy across a wide range of treatment modalities [61].”
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“Accordingly, the theory and its applications are of similar importance within psychotherapy research which is reflected by numerous studies connecting attachment issues with the process and outcome of psychotherapy (e.g., Bernecker et al., 2014; Levy & Johnson, 2019).”
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“Based on the high interpersonal dependency needs of people who report attachment anxiety, we hypothesized that for the patients who are more anxiously attached the relationship between the collaborative process variables (working alliance and therapeutic agency) and COVID-related traumatic distress would be stronger t…”
BackgroundAn updated meta-analysis of the relation between adult attachment style and working alliance
Notsu, H., Blansfield, R. E., Spina, D. S., & Levy, K. N. (2024) · Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1080/10503307.2024.2370344 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
“While there are a variety of therapeutic interventions consistent with an attachment-focused perspective (see Levy & Johnson, 2019), clinicians can address attachment insecurity in all therapeutic orientations and practices (see Levy & Kelly, 2009).”
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“The result for patients with low scores on both, indicating a secure attachment, is in line with previous findings (Levy & Johnson, 2019) showing that for these patients, the experience of a constructive collaboration may give impetus to symptom alleviation and perhaps also better problem solving…”
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“We know that attachment can serve as a way of understanding the common factors across psychotherapies (Levy & Johnson, 2019).”
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“On the one hand, the ECR-R is often used and recommended (89), also in clinical practice, for a quick diagnosis of the patient’s functioning style, but the Adult Attachment Interview is considered the best tool in this respect.”
MethodSizemore, K. M., Talan, A. J., Gray, S., Forbes, N., Park, H. H., & Rendina, H. J. (2021) · Psychology and Sexuality · doi:10.1080/19419899.2021.2019095 · Cited by 10 · see citing works
“Bartholomew’s (1990) model of adult attachment posits two primary dimensions of attachment, which K. A. Brennan et al. (1998) refer to as attachment-related anxiety and attachment-related avoidance (Levy & Johnson, 2019).”
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“Yet there is also evidence that attachment dimensions predict response to treatment [86], and that attachment both moderates and mediates psychotherapeutic efficacy [87].”
BackgroundWang, K. Y. H., Kealy, D., & Cox, D. W. (2022) · Journal of Adult Development · doi:10.1007/s10804-022-09418-3 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
“…or other psychosocial care due to the unfulfillment of or a crisis in meaning (Schnell, 2009) may also benefit from therapies that draw upon attachment theory and aim to strengthen attachment security and enhance emotional processing abilities (Levy & Johnson, 2019; Slade & Holmes, 2019).”
BackgroundBrigance, C. A., & Brigance, M. L. (2022) · Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy · doi:10.1080/15332691.2022.2142716 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
“Since Bowlby’s first publication on attachment theory in 1969, many researchers have continued his work into the spectrum of adult relationships (Johnson, 2015; Levy & Johnson, 2019).”
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“Clinical attachment research has also demonstrated the high relevance of attachment for psychotherapy (Levy & Johnson, 2019; Schauenburg & Strauß, 2017; Slade & Holmes, 2019).”
BackgroundDiamond, G., Rivers, A. S., Winston-Lindeboom, P., Russon, J., & Roeske, M. (2024) · Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Mental Health · doi:10.1186/s13034-024-00833-w · Cited by 5 · see citing works
“While the literature on attachment dimensions as outcome moderators or mediators is limited and somewhat mixed, child and adult patients with attachment anxiety tend to benefit less from psychotherapy across a wide range of treat-ment modalities [61].”
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“The attachment framework is also used as the foundation for psychotherapeutic interventions aimed at fostering inner exploration and growth (e.g., Levy & Johnson, 2018).”
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Johnson, B. N., & Levy, K. N. (2024) · Springer eBooks · doi:10.1007/978-3-031-08956-5_192-1
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- Authors
- Levy, K. N., & Johnson, B. N.
- Venue
- Canadian Psychology / Psychologie canadienne
- Published
- 2019-08
- Volume
- 60
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 178-193
- ISSN
- 0708-5591 (ISSN-L)
- 1878-7304
- OpenAlex
- W2900363532
- Cited by
- 57
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 11 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 1
- FWCI
- 3.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Canadian Psychology/Psychologie canadienne (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Attachment and Relationship Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Keywords
- attachment, psychotherapy, attachment theory, therapeutic relationship
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