Cognitive analytic therapy: developing its theory and practice via attachment theory

✍ Scribed by Anna Jellema

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 130 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1063-3995
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-0879(199902)6:1<16::aid-cpp182>3.0.co;2-n

✦ Synopsis

Cognitive Analytic Therapy (CAT) makes scant reference to Attachment Theory, despite many similarities. It is argued that the theoretical basis of CAT is not yet fully integrated, and that current attachment theory can contribute to CAT's thinking about motivation, the origin of procedures, the therapeutic relationship and abusive relationships. Attachment theory should influence CAT theory regarding developmental issues and reactions to loss; some suggestions are made for improved CAT practice. The ambiguous concept of core' in CAT is also clarified in terms of unassuaged attachment needs, with a distinction being made between core pain' and core states'. Finally, consideration is given to a developmental research tool, the Adult Attachment Interview, as a means of determining different types of defensive exclusion' of information in psychopathology. There are preliminary indications that patients with predominantly dismissing or preoccupied attachment strategies might require somewhat different therapeutic processes in CAT.