Bindungsmuster von Psychotherapeuten/ Attachment patterns in psychotherapists

Abstract

Objectives: Therapist characteristics are relevant for the outcome of psychotherapies. Attachment measures related to aspects of personality are well introduced. We studied a sample of psychotherapists using attachment interviews and questionnaires.

Methods: 31 psychodynamically oriented psychotherapists who worked in two inpatient institutions were interviewed with the Adult Attachment Interview. We report the results of the distribution of attachment patterns according the Adult Attachment Prototype Rating (Strauss et al. 1999).

Results: 14 therapists (45.2 %) showed a secure, 4 (12.9 %) an insecure-ambivalent and 7 (22.6 %) an insecure-avoidant attachment pattern. A comparably high proportion of therapists was rated as mixed-insecure, a pattern of clinical relevance. Discrepancies to other samples lie in the expected direction. There were no correlations with gender, experience or profession. Depression and insecure attachment did correlate; interpersonal problems showed no connection to attachment status.

Conclusions: The distribution resembles the general population with a slightly lower proportion of secure subjects. Further assessments, among others, will investigate the occurrence of "unresolved states of mind" with respect to attachment trauma