Healing attachment trauma in adult psychotherapy: The role of limited reparenting

Abstract

ABSTRACT Bowlby was the first scholar who conceptualised the therapeutic relationship as an attachment. A wide range of therapeutic approaches have adopted his ideas and have focused on the importance of the therapeutic relationship in healing relational trauma. The present paper focuses on limited reparenting, an attachment informed approach employed in the context of schema therapy, and explores its potential in producing beneficial therapeutic outcomes by meeting the client’s attachment needs and thus reconstructing their relational schemas. In support of this claim empirical evidence is drawn from two seemingly different areas of research: attachment security priming and imagery rescripting. Implications for clinical practice and research are discussed.