title: Self-reported attachment styles and therapeutic orientation of therapists and their relationship with reported general alliance quality and problems in therapy.
abstract: The aims of this study were to explore the relationship between therapists' self-reported attachment styles and therapeutic orientation with the self-reported general therapeutic alliance and therapist-reported problems in psychological therapy.A sample of 491 psychotherapists from differing therapeutic orientations responded to a postal questionnaire. The questionnaire contained standardized measures of therapeutic alliance quality, attachment behaviours, a checklist of problems in therapy, and a brief personality inventory.Therapist-reported attachment styles generally explained a significant additional proportion of the variance in alliance and problems in therapy, over and above variance explained by general personality variables. Self-reported secure attachment style was significantly positively correlated with therapist-reported general good alliance. Self-reported anxious attachment styles were significantly negatively correlated with good alliance, and significantly positively correlated with the number of therapist-reported problems in therapy. Therapeutic orientation independently predicted a small but significant amount of the variance in reported general alliance quality in addition to that explained by attachment behaviours.
authors.affiliation: Sheffield Care NHS Trust, and Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Sheffield, UK. susanna.black@rotherhampct.nhs.uk
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Black
authors.forename: Gillian
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hardy
authors.forename: Graham
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Turpin
authors.forename: Glenys
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Parry
mesh_terms: D001007:Anxiety; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011613:Psychotherapy; D016896:Treatment Outcome