Sensitivity and responsiveness are key to establishing attachment security. In this seminar we will explore how attachment theory and caregiver-infant interaction studies inform the therapist stance in AEDP. When we recognize the individual differences that arise with insecure patterns of attachment, in light of the fact that attunement is based on the dyadic interaction of the patient and the therapist, we can be better prepared to help each patient transform their suffering from relational wounding. Sometimes the pattern of attachment at play can challenge our capacity to be present, responsive, attuned and empathic. I propose that it is not actually the pattern itself that challenges us to feel inadequate or unable to empathize or triggers our self-at-worst attachment strategy. Rather, our reaction to the specific behavior that is manifesting in the moment may drive us outside our capacity to respond with the help that is needed. This seminar is about expanding the clinician’s capacity to respond moment-to-moment to an interaction that is co-created and informed not only by the pattern of attachment, but also by the various intersectionality’s that both therapist and patient bring to the dyad.
This seminar will identify classic blind spots that may arise with each attachment pattern. We will break down the configuration of each pattern into its affect regulation strategies and defenses, caregiver’s state of mind and this impact on self-other relational patterning, and the seeds of resilience.
Video of psychotherapy sessions will also be shown to illustrate the interplay of how these strategies can be further depicted on AEDP’s representational schemas and how we can intervene experientially to engage positive neuroplasticity. We will explore the way therapist’s sensitivity can play a part in enhancing attachment security and how metaskills can be chosen in service of the patient’s therapy. AEDP’s interventions about making the implicit explicit and making the explicit relational can be helpful to apply with specificity to each pattern of attachment. The aim of this seminar is to move towards strengthening a base of safety and connection through which our patient’s self-at-best can be engaged to gain traction and momentum for treatment.
This webinar offers 12.75 CE hours.
There is no conflict of interest or commercial support for this program.