Abstract

Corrective attachment episodes, therapeutic enactments designed to increase openness and trust between young adults and their parents, are the purported primary change mechanism in attachment-based family therapy. This study examined whether sequences of therapist interventions, young adults’ productive emotional processing, and parental behaviors thought to reflect corrective attachment episodes were characteristic of good versus poor outcome cases. Thirty conjoint attachment sessions were analyzed using the THEME algorithm. Results revealed that only in good outcome cases were there four-step sequences hypothesized to facilitate attachment. One sequence began with the therapist focusing on the young adult’s primary adaptive emotions, followed by the young adult’s productive emotional processing of their vulnerable emotions, followed by the therapist empathizing with and validating the parent, followed by parents’ expressions of warmth toward their young adult. The second sequence began with the therapist focusing on the young adult’s unmet attachment needs, followed by the young adult productively processing their vulnerable emotions, followed by the parent expressing a willingness to fulfill their young adult’s attachment needs, followed by parents’ expressions of warmth toward their young adult. Findings provide an empirically-based clinical map for conducting therapeutic enactments in family therapy and have implications for treatment development, therapist training and supervision.

摘要

矫正依恋事件，旨在增加年轻人与其父母之间的开放和信任的治疗性行为，据称是基于依恋的家庭治疗中的主要变化机制。这项研究检查了治疗师干预的顺序、年轻人的生产性情绪处理以及被认为反映纠正性依恋事件的父母行为是否是好与坏结果案例的特征。使用主题算法分析了 30 个联合附件会话。结果表明，只有在结果良好的情况下，才会假设有四步序列以促进依恋。一个序列开始于治疗师专注于年轻人的主要适应性情绪，然后是年轻人对其脆弱情绪的生产性情绪处理，其次是治疗师对父母的同情和认可，其次是父母对他们年轻成人的热情表达。第二个序列从治疗师关注年轻人未满足的依恋需求开始，其次是年轻人有效地处理他们脆弱的情绪，其次是父母表示愿意满足他们年轻人的依恋需求，其次是父母对他们的热情表达。他们年轻的成年人。研究结果为在家庭治疗中进行治疗制定提供了基于经验的临床地图，并对治疗开发、治疗师培训和监督产生了影响。第二个序列从治疗师关注年轻人未满足的依恋需求开始，其次是年轻人有效地处理他们脆弱的情绪，其次是父母表示愿意满足他们年轻人的依恋需求，其次是父母对他们的热情表达。他们年轻的成年人。研究结果为在家庭治疗中进行治疗制定提供了基于经验的临床地图，并对治疗开发、治疗师培训和监督产生了影响。第二个序列从治疗师关注年轻人未满足的依恋需求开始，其次是年轻人有效地处理他们脆弱的情绪，其次是父母表示愿意满足他们年轻人的依恋需求，其次是父母对他们的热情表达。他们年轻的成年人。研究结果为在家庭治疗中进行治疗制定提供了基于经验的临床地图，并对治疗开发、治疗师培训和监督产生了影响。