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Enny Yusof

Therapist attachment styles and therapeutic alliance in family therapy

Effective social work practice with families depends on practitioners establishing good working relationships with family members.  This paper investigates the psychological aspects of these relationships in relation to the personal characteristics of the practitioner.

Research in the field of psychotherapy and particularly family therapy (Friedlander et al., 2008) has identified key dimensions of the therapeutic alliance: family members’ engagement with the practitioner in the therapeutic process, their emotional connection with the therapist, a feeling of safety in the therapeutic system and a shared sense of purpose within the family.   It is hypothesised that the ability of social workers to foster effective working relationship with families will be associated with their own personal experience of relationships.  Thus, the attachment established in childhood influences an individual’s ‘attachment style’ in later life that impacts on all close relationships including the working alliance with families  (Ainsworth, 1989). 

Aims

To investigate the attachment styles of professionals engaged in therapeutic work with families in the UK and any association with the quality of therapeutic alliance. 

Methods

1. survey of social workers and other professionals engaged.
2. detailed study of the key moments in videotaped therapy sessions and exploration of  the association between each dimension of alliance and different attachment styles.

Findings

Data from 76 participants analysed to date (55.3% social workers). Nearly a third were assessed on a standardised measure as having a ‘secure’ attachment style and, surprisingly, a similar proportion were ‘fearful’; 18% were ‘preoccupied’ or ‘dismissing’.  A purposive sample of therapists with different attachment styles has been recruited for stage two of the project.  Initial findings will be reported.