Attachment theory within clinical supervision: application of the conceptual to the empirical

Abstract

Attachment theory, which has demonstrated application in caregiver-child, romantic, and psychotherapeutic relationships, also appears to be supervision relevant. But bad blood between attachment theory and psychoanalysis may well have hampered considering the relevance of attachment theory for psychoanalytic supervision. This project sought to investigate the application of attachment theory to the supervision situation, with the potential implications of our findings for psychoanalytic supervision being considered. Attachment styles, leader–follower dynamics, and attachment-based expectations were explored as predictors of supervisor-trainee working alliance using a prospective, longitudinal study design. Findings revealed the importance of measuring supervision-specific attachment, the particularly problematic nature of supervisee avoidant attachment, and the potential contribution of a leader–follower framework for understanding supervisory attachment. These attachment concepts may well be useful in, and additive for, psychoanalytic supervision practice.

Keywords:

• supervision
• supervisory working alliance
• attachment theory
• leader–follower dynamics
• psychoanalytic

Notes

1. Reasons for the high percentage of undetermined participants: most trainees in this training clinic do not conceptualize their work as reflecting only one orientation, but rather in the orientation of their supervisor at the time or work in different orientations for different patients, and early students (30% of this sample was year one, first semester) may not have identified an orientation yet.

2. T-tests determined there were no significant differences on any variables of interest between trainees that had been on a practicum team with their supervisor prior to the study and those who had not.

3. Due to the poor internal consistency demonstrated for the ECR-RS anxiety scale, it was not included in analyses.