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The leading developer of emotionally-focused therapy (EFT) has extended the EFT framework beyond couples, effectively applying it to individuals and families. Dr. Susan M. Johnson integrates the latest empirical research on emotional phenomena and attachment theory into her own clinical reflections on her case studies. She argues that the attachment-based approach to psychotherapy, which focuses on the individual in the context of his or her closest relationships with others, is the way forward in an era of manualized treatment protocols. She provides a clear, passionate, and pragmatic guide for clinicians who wish to bring attachment theory into practice treating patients.
Johnson begins by explaining that the current field consists of “numerous therapy ‘tribes’ each with its own view of reality” (p. 1). Attachment theory, she maintains, could be the unifying principle for psychotherapy, for we are “more than anything else, social animals fixated on our connection with others” (p. 5). She explains the core tenets of modern attachment theory as they have developed from John Bowlby's original theory (1969, 1988): importantly, a physical and mental sense of a safe haven and a secure base is essential to enable effective dependency, a source of resilience with which one can explore the world. Johnson highlights certain key factors that define the quality and security of an attachment bond—the perceived accessibility, responsiveness, and emotional engagement of attachment figures—and the impact of secure connection on mental health, citing significant supportive literature.
She discusses common misconceptions about attachment, which are crucial to the understanding of attachment for all people, whether layperson or clinician. Firstly, Johnson finds that the term dependency has acquired negative connotations in clinical circles, for it became associated with dysfunctional behaviors and forms of anxious attachment after practitioners of developmental psychology defined the