| Abstract: | Insecurity in attachment relationships may promote family interactions that involve (1) “capturing” an attachment figure, (2) turning to an inappropriate attachment figure, (3) inappropriate responding to attachment behavior, and/or (4) anticipating loss, similar to past loss. In a family with two small children, family therapy over all the sessions involved reducing the need to “capture” (point l), with the therapist acting as a secure base for each family member (point 2) and exploring the anticipation of past losses (point 4), so that the parents could become a secure base for each other and their children (point 3). Coding from videotapes focused on a few minutes of intervention concerning the problem child. The interactions formed a pattern suggestive of a pattern of attachment with each parent. How the family contributed to the origins and maintenance of each pattern was illuminated by the above four influences of insecurity. |
