The Making and Breaking of Affectional Bonds

II. Some Principles of Psychotherapy: The Fiftieth Maudsley Lecture (expanded version)

Bibliographic Data

ID23388243
AuthorsJohn Bowlby (The Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, corresponding author)
Year1977
Volume130
Issue5
Pages421-431
Publication date1977-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe British Journal of Psychiatry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1250 • E-ISSN: 1472-1465
PublisherRoyal College of Psychiatrists (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1192/bjp.130.5.421
PMID861423
OpenAlexW2147629601
LanguageEN
Citations received305
References cited11

An account is given of how a clinician guided by attachment theory approaches the clinical conditions to which the theory is held to apply, which include states of anxiety, depression and emotional detachment. Assessment of a patient is in terms of the patterns of attachment and caregiving behaviour which he commonly shows and of the events and situations, both recent and past, which may have precipitated or exacerbated his symptoms. The problems posed by relevant information being suppressed or falsified are noted. Viewed in this perspective a psychotherapist is seen to have a number of interrelated tasks: (a) to provide the patient with a secure base from which he, the patient, can explore himself and his relationships; (b) and (c) to examine with the patient the ways in which he tends to construe current interpersonal relationships, including that with the therapist, and the resulting predictions he makes and actions he takes, and the extent to which some may be inappropriate; (d) to help him consider whether his tendencies to misconstrue, and as a result to act misguidedly, can be understood by reference to the experiences he had with attachment figures during his childhood and adolescence, and perhaps may still be having.

Anxiety · Attachment theory · Depression (economics) · Developmental psychology · Interpersonal communication · Interpersonal relationship · Perspective (graphical) · Psychiatry · Psychotherapist · Attachment and Relationship Dynamics · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology · Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub