Attachment, ethology and adult psychotherapy

Abstract

This article discusses Bowlby's development of an ethological-evolutionary perspective, and its implications for psychotherapy with adults. According to Bowlby, attachment behavior is instinctive, having emerged throughout the course of evolution to ensure protection and actual survival. Because the environment affects how attachment behavior unfolds, adverse experiences can divert developmental pathways away from resilience, toward dysfunction and emotional distress. Psychotherapy offers the experience of an attachment relationship. Part of the process involves helping patients understand that feelings such as fear and anxiety are inherent responses to safeguard affectional relationships when they are endangered. As working models are re-appraised and revised, there is emphasis on clarifying the attachment experiences that may have intensified these natural feelings.