title: Client attachment, attachment to the therapist and client-therapist attachment match: how do they relate to change in psychodynamic psychotherapy?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We examined the associations between client attachment, client attachment to the therapist, and symptom change, as well as the effects of client-therapist attachment match on outcome. Clients (n = 67) and their therapists (n = 27) completed the ECR to assess attachment.
  
  
  METHODS
  Clients completed also the Client Attachment to Therapist scale three times (early, middle, and late sessions) and the OQ-45 at intake and four times over the course of a year of psychodynamic psychotherapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Clients characterized by avoidant attachment and by avoidant attachment to their therapist showed the least improvement. A low-avoidant client-therapist attachment match led to a greater decrease in symptom distress than when a low-avoidant therapist treated a high-avoidant client.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest the importance of considering client-therapist attachment matching and the need to pay attention to the special challenges involved in treating avoidant clients in order to facilitate progress in psychotherapy.
authors.affiliation: a Counseling and Human Development , University of Haifa , Haifa , Israel.
authors.forename: Hadas
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wiseman
authors.forename: Orya
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Tishby
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000628:therapy; D003863:Depression / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011613:Psychotherapy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult