Abstract
Objective: To explore whether the therapist’s emotional regulation strategies moderate the relationship between therapist attachment and the working alliance from the therapist’s perspective.Method: A non-experimental, descriptive correlational design was used. Sixty-three psychotherapists (6 men, 57 women) participated in this study, ranging in age from 27 to 69 years, with a mean age of 39.3 years. The therapists completed the Attachment evaluation questionnaire for adults, the Spanish Adaptation of the Working Alliance Inventory, and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Associations between attachment and emotional regulation traits and working alliance were examined using multilevel modeling, controlling for therapist demographics, and clinical experience.Results: Moderation analyses revealed significant interaction effects between therapist attachment and emotional regulation strategies.Conclusion: Attachment styles would not significantly affect the therapist’s ability to establish an adequate therapeutic alliance bond. The results show that the attachment style of the therapists interacted with their emotional regulation abilities.
Highlights
Over time, both models and therapeutic theories have established the conditions that the patient must meet in order to achieve the goals of change and succeed in the therapeutic process
The results show that the attachment style of the therapists interacted with their emotional regulation abilities
The main aim of the present study was to analyze the role of emotional regulation abilities as a moderator variable in the relationship between therapist attachment and working alliance
Summary
Both models and therapeutic theories have established the conditions that the patient must meet in order to achieve the goals of change and succeed in the therapeutic process. Until the 1980s, research was focused primarily on studying the final results of therapy. From this decade onwards, a growing body of research has centered on the therapeutic process, with the main focus on the processes that take place within therapy related to change (Krause and Altimir, 2016). One of the factors that seems to be most clearly associated with the effects of the therapist is the ability of the therapist to establish a strong working alliance with a wide range of clients
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