The Adult Attachment Projective Picture System: Integrating Attachment Into Clinical Assessment

This article summarizes the development and validation of the Adult Attachment Projective System (AAP), a measure we developed from the Bowlby–Ainsworth developmental tradition to assess adult attachment status. The AAP has demonstrated excellent concurrent validity with the Adult Attachment Interview (George, Kaplan, &; Main, 1984/1985/1996 Finn, S. E. 2007. In our client's shoes: Theory and techniques of therapeutic assessment., New York, NY: Psychology Press.  Google Scholar]; Main &; Goldwyn, 1985–1994 Lis, A., Mazzeschi, C., Di Riso, D. and Salcuni, S. 2011/this issue. Attachment, assessment, and psychological intervention: A case study of anorexia. Journal of Personality Assessment, 93: 434–444. Taylor &; Francis Online], Web of Science ®] , Google Scholar]; Main, Goldwyn, &; Hesse, 2003 Lyons-Ruth, K. and Jacobvitz, D. 2008. “Attachment disorganization: Unresolved loss, relational violence, and lapses in behavioral and attentional strategies”. In Handbook of attachment: Theory, research, and clinical applications , 2nd ed, Edited by: Cassidy, J. and Shaver, P. R. 666–697. New York, NY: Guilford.  Google Scholar]), interjudge reliability, and test–retest reliability, with no effects of verbal intelligence or social desirability. The AAP coding and classification system and application in clinical and community samples are summarized. Finally, we introduce the 3 other articles that are part of this Special Section and discuss the use of the AAP in therapeutic assessment and treatment.