Attachment Theory and Psychotherapy

John Bowlby’s1,2 attachment theory has had a pro-found influence on developmental psychology, but until the past decade it has had a limited influence on psychotherapy research.3 Recent years have seen a great increase in psychotherapy research that draws ex-plicitly from attachment theory. For example, studies of persons with and without serious psychiatric disorders show that attachment states of mind are associated with different approaches to interpersonal relationships.4 Furthermore, individual differences in clinicians ’ at-tachment states of mind appear to influence the treat-ment relationships they form.5 This increased interest among psychotherapy researchers is reflected in two journals ’ recent special issues dedicated to attachment3,6 and also in the several chapters devoted to psychother-apy in the recently published Handbook of Attachment.