Goal-corrected empathic attunement: Developing and rating the concept within an attachment perspective.

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of goal-corrected empathic attunement, a process we consider essential to psychotherapy. We locate the concept within the theoretical framework of attachment theory, illustrate it through sequences of interaction taken from video clips, and show how to achieve statistically reliable ratings using independent raters.

The dynamics of attachment and systems-centered group psychotherapy.

“…The research and theoretical formulations that provide the basis for these ideas are presented in the following order. First, a short account of attachment theory is presented (Bowlby, 1969, 1973, 1980), along with the way that it has been extended and developed through the concept of the attachment dynamic to take account of interpersonal motivational forces other than careseeking and caregiving (Heard & Lake, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000); second, research into affect attunement and its links with attachment status is summarized (Haft & Slade, 1989; McCluskey, Hooper, & Bingley Miller, 1999); third, research indicating that clear communication of emotional content, both intra- and interpersonally, which reliably predicts secure versus insecure attachment style, is described (Ainsworth, 1991; Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978; Ainsworth & Wittig, 1969; Fonagy et al, 1995; K. Grossmann, Fremmer-Bombik, Rudolph, & Grossmann, 1988; K.…”

Reducing Reactive Aggression by Lowering Coping Demands and Boosting Regulation: Five Key Staff Behaviors

“…Children deficient in these basic skills need an adult capable of reading their affects, stepping in, and helping them understand and dampen down emotions (McCluskey, Hooper, & Miller, 1999; Socarides & Stolorow, 1984). Staff is accustomed to recognizing a child's building affect storm and responding with de‐escalation techniques.…”

“…To regulate one's responses to situations also requires self-awareness, empathy, and perspective taking-skills often lacking in children with a variety of serious emotional illnesses (Decety & Moriguchi, 2007;Schenkel, Marlow-O'Conner, Moss, Sweeney, & Pavuluri, 2008). Children deficient in these basic skills need an adult capable of reading their affects, stepping in, and helping them understand and dampen down emotions (McCluskey, Hooper, & Miller, 1999;Socarides & Stolorow, 1984). Staff is accustomed to recognizing a child's building affect storm and responding with de-escalation techniques.…”

Top 10 Milieu Interventions for Inpatient Child/Adolescent Treatment

“…Rather it is communicating that, given the circumstances, staff understand what youngsters’ behaviors mean to them and does for them (Cotton, 1993). Often empathy goes beyond words and involves a gesture that responds to the patient's affect or an inflection in a staff member's voice that mirrors the feeling tone of the patient's experience (McCluskey, Hooper, & Miller, 1999).…”