Some Nuances in Intersubjective Attachment Systems: Discussion of Shelley Doctors' Article, “Notes on Incorporating Attachment Theory and Research Into Self Psychological and Intersubjective Clinical Work”1

In this article I discuss Doctors's (2006) inclusive model presented in her paper, “Notes on Incorporating Attachment Theory and Research Into Self Psychological/Intersubjective Clinical Work.” I distinguish between linear stabilities of patterning emphasized by many attachment researchers and nonlinear properties of dyadic systems emphasized by relational and intersubjective systems, self-psychologists, and infant researchers, noting that Doctors brings both sensibilities into play in the same conceptual and clinical field through her pragmatic, close-to-experience perspective.

I make some links between attachment and infant research. Nuances within attachment theory are noted that add complexity to a primary attachment hypothesis: that the patterning of primary attachment relationships are stable and influence later evolving relationships. I then offer my own narrative

of the therapeutic action in Doctors's first case vignette, an example of a sequence of disruption and repair that illustrates an intersubjective transformation. Finally, I raise questions about how this transformational shift may alter the trajectory of treatment.