Attachment Theory and Psychotherapy Research - Editor's Introduction to a Special Section

Abstract

This article introduces the special section dealing with research on attachment and psychotherapy. Although John Bowlby conceptualized his theory as a tool for clinicians to acquire a better understanding of the development of psychopathology and emotional distress, it took a long time until clinical researchers started to make use of Bowlby's theory. During the last decade, a large number of studies have been published showing that attachment theory could be very useful within different fields of psychotherapy research, such as differentiating psychopathology, therapist characteristics, and aspects of the therapeutic alliance. These fields are briefly stressed and related to the articles in the special section emphasizing some future directions of attachment response within psychotherapy.