Caregiving in Attachment Relationships: A Perspective for Counselors

Pistole, M. Carole

doi:10.1002/j.1556-6676.1999.tb02471.x

Cited by 42 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 76 publications

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“…For example, students with an anxious attachment orientation may need to learn problem-focused coping skills, whereas students with an avoidant attachment orientation may need greater help with identifying and disclosing their vulnerabilities to others. All insecurely attached students may benefit from a consistent counseling relationship as a secure base from which to explore new coping methods and to both examine and update problematic schemas regarding attachment (Pistole, 1999). Furthermore, our findings suggest that counseling efforts targeted at helping students change maladaptive coping patterns may indirectly facilitate favorable changes in students' adult attachment orientations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Adult Attachment Orientations and College Student Distress: The Mediating Role of Problem Coping Styles

Lopez

Mauricio

Gormley

et al. 2001

Jour of Counseling & Develop

126

116

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Understanding the role and function of individual differences contributing to student distress and to stress-related coping is an important concern for college counselors and student personnel workers. To adequately address this concern, investigations with a basis in theory are especially needed because simple descriptive studies are limited in clarifying why certain person variables may be especially important and how these variables may affect the experience of distress through their more direct impact on coping processes. Drawing on attachment theory, this study examined relations among students' adult attachment orientations, problem coping styles, and current levels of distress. Guided by findings from the adult attachment literature, we proposed and tested a model wherein problem coping styles mediated the impact of insecure attachment orientations on distress. AN ATTACHMENT THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVE ON COPING AND DISTRESSAttachment theory (Bowlby, 1982(Bowlby, , 1988) is principally concerned with the nature of close, enduring emotional bonds, or attachments, and how these unique relationships affect the life course. Bowlby (1988) argued that the quality of early relationships with primary caregivers shape human beings' self-images of competence and lovability, as well as their general expectations about the trustworthiness and dependability of others to provide assistance in times of need. Children who develop a secure attachment bond with their caregivers experience these adult figures as warm and consistently responsive to their emotional needs yet also encouraging of autonomous exploration. As a result, within the first year of life, securely attached children are assumed to form generally favorable cognitive schemas of themselves and of others and to demonstrate appropriate development of their affect regulation capabilities. By contrast, children who develop insecure attachments with their caregivers experience these persons either as inconsistently responsive to, overcontrolling of, or consistently rejecting their bids for care and support. As a result, insecurely attached children are assumed to internalize less favorable schemas of themselves and of others, either viewing themselves as unlovable or others as undependable, or both. These interpersonal orientations are further assumed to dispose the insecurely attached child toward less functional forms of affect regulation that emphasize either chronic hypervigilance and proximity-seeking or social avoidance and emotional disengagement. Moreover, Bowlby (1988) conjectured that, once formed, both secure and insecure attachment orientations would be relatively stable and enduring and would thereby function as templates for organizing the person's functioning in subsequent (adult) intimate relationships. From the mid-1980s to the present, researchers have been developing both categorical and continuous selfreport measures of adult attachment styles and orientations. Although the psychometric limitations of categorical measures of the attachment constru...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 81%

Adult Attachment Orientations and College Student Distress: The Mediating Role of Problem Coping Styles

Lopez

Mauricio

Gormley

et al. 2001

Jour of Counseling & Develop

126

116

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Apart from conceptualizing psychological distress, the therapeutic relationship is closely related to the dynamics of attachment orientations (Bowlby, 1988; Pistole, 1989, 1999). Counselors are supposed to be emotionally available to clients and provide them with a consistent secure base so that clients can grow (Bowlby, 1988; Pistole, 1999). Even though previous researchers have provided evidence for the role of attachment orientations in building the working alliance and treatment process (Gallagher et al, 2014 Mallinckrodt et al, 2015 Pistole, 1999), to the best of our knowledge, no studies have tested how cultural differences can affect the role of attachment orientations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, attachment orientations affect the formation of clients’ therapeutic relationship and therapy outcomes (Gallagher, Tasca, Ritchie, Balfour, & Bissada, 2014; Mallinckrodt, Choi, & Daly, 2015). Identifying variations in the attachment orientations across cultures may provide guidance for counselors in forming therapeutic relationships (Gallagher et al, 2014 Mallinckrodt et al, 2015 Pistole, 1999) with clients across cultural backgrounds. In the present study, we examined the association of attachment orientations and psychological distress in German and Turkish samples.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Attachment Orientations: Predicting Psychological Distress in German and Turkish Samples

Turan

Kocalevent

Quintana

et al. 2016

Jour of Counseling & Develop

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This study examined the relationship between attachment orientations and psychological distress, as well as cultural moderation in this relationship, among 241 university students from Germany and Turkey. Attachment orientations predicted the elevation of psychological distress in both samples. Attachment anxiety in the German sample and attachment avoidance in the Turkish sample showed stronger association with the elevation in psychological distress. The results and potential implications for counseling research and practice are discussed.

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“…In parent-child, mentoring, and romantic relationships, results from different methods indicate that attachment security is associated with more competent emotional regulation, social interaction, and learning (Goldberg, 2000;Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007). Attachment has also been studied in counseling, where the counselor's caregiving bond complements the client's attachment bond (Bowlby, 1988;Ligiéro & Gelso, 2002;Pistole, 1989Pistole, , 1999Woodhouse, Schlosser, Crook, Ligiéro, & Gelso, 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The Bonds of Development: An Attachment-Caregiving Model of Supervision

Fitch

Pistole

Gunn

2010

The Clinical Supervisor

Self Cite

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In this paper we introduce the Attachment-Caregiving Model of Supervision (ACMS) and its normative functioning. This framework emphasizes the caregiving and attachment processes in the supervisor-trainee relationship and their link to learning. We provide a brief overview of attachment theory, describe the ACMS process, illustrate concepts with a case scenario, note relevant individual differences, and conclude by clarifying the model's contributions and limitations.

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Caregiving in Attachment Relationships: A Perspective for Counselors

Abstract: This article examines how caregiving, an aspect of attachment theory, can be applied in counseling. Discussion begins with an overview of attachment theory, then focuses on the counselor's position as caregiver, adult relationship issues, and termination of counseling.

Cited by 42 publications

References 76 publications

Adult Attachment Orientations and College Student Distress: The Mediating Role of Problem Coping Styles

Adult Attachment Orientations and College Student Distress: The Mediating Role of Problem Coping Styles

Attachment Orientations: Predicting Psychological Distress in German and Turkish Samples

The Bonds of Development: An Attachment-Caregiving Model of Supervision

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