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AJRPP 3(2):176-189 (2009)

A Little Known History of Attachment Theory: In Memory of Karl Pottharst

Authors: Diana Taylor PhD, Robin Mintzer PhD

Diana Taylor PhD

Faculty member at California State University, Northridge and at The International School for Analytical Psychology, in Zurich, Switzerland. She has lectured on the application of attachment theory to clinical and social advocacy work at the International Institute for Life Review and Reminiscence and the 18th International World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics conferences. Dr Taylor presented her research on ‘The healthy capacity to be alone, loneliness and attachment patterns in young adults at the Tavistock Institute’. She has been a member of the Los Angeles Attachment Study Group since its inception in 1978. Drs Taylor and Mintzer have organized several attachment conferences in the USA, England, and Brazil. She has worked at the Centre for Aging, University of California Los Angeles and the Autobiographical Studies Centre, California State University, Fullerton. She is currently doing attachment research on with older adults and is a board member of the International Institute for Life Review and Reminiscence. Dr Taylor is a developmental clinical psychologist and has been in private practice in West Los Angeles for over twenty-five years. To request a copy of the Attachment History Questionnaire, contact: Diana Taylor, PhD: telephone: 310.475.5875; or Robin Mintzer, PhD: telephone: 949.955.9080; email:

Robin Mintzer PhD

Graduate faculty member at Pepperdine and Chapman universities, Los Angeles, and the International School for Analytic Psychology, Zurich. She is a psychologist and attachment researcher with older adults. Dr Mintzer has presented her work on the application of attachment theory at the 18th International World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics and the International Institute for Life Review and Reminiscence. She has been a member of the attachment study group in Los Angeles since 1986. Together with Dr Taylor, Dr Mintzer has organized several attachment conferences in the USA and England. She has worked at the Centre for Aging, University of California, Los Angeles and the Autobiographical Studies Centre, California State University, Fullerton.

Abstract

Karl Pottharst dreamt of collaborating with John Bowlby in the application of attachment theory to clinical work and research with all age groups, from ‘the cradle to grave’. It is remarkable that he not only realized his dream, but took his students along this wonderful journey all the way to the Tavistock Clinic and the streets of London.

Karl Pottharst was one of the members of the founding faculty at the California School of Professional Psychology, Los Angeles (CSPP), which was designed to train in the clinician-scientist model. The tradition of research at CSPP was to advocate on behalf of underserved high-risk people. This research effort was committed to explicit humane values and goals for positive social change. Bowlby's constructs were helpful in understanding the plight of those often misunderstood by traditional theories and neglected by clinicians and policymakers. Karl and his students reached out to John Bowlby. They invited Bowlby to consult with the prolific attachment focused research taking place at CSPP. Bowlby proposed in his preface to Karl's book Explorations in Adult Attachment ‘May the path these researchers have pioneered be followed by many others’ (Pottharst, 1990a, p. xiii).

Karl Pottharst was passionate about attachment theory. His intelligence, creativity, and openness to novel ideas led to an enormous body of research. He acknowledged the value of Hansburg's Separation Anxiety Test which furthered attachment research and inspired his work (Hansburg, 1980, 1986). Between 1974 and 1992, Karl chaired and mentored over fifty-five dissertations using attachment theory as the theoretical underpinning. The research looked at attachment and separation variables in different clinical populations. Bowlby wrote the following in Karl's book.

The collection of studies reported here are among the first projects in clinical research … in this new framework. Differences are predicted in experiences in
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relationships with parents during childhood and a