Attachment in Group Psychotherapy

Cheri L. Marmarosh

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781351010795
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Attachment theory is influencing how we understand interpersonal relationships and how psychotherapy can help facilitate change for those struggling in relationships. More recently, researchers and clinicians have applied attachment theory to group treatment, one of the most effective forms of psychotherapy to address interpersonal difficulties.

This book highlights some of the bridges between attachment theory and contemporary approaches to group treatment. In addition to applying attachment theory to innovative treatments, each chapter addresses a specific way in which attachment impacts the members' capacity for empathy and perspective taking; the development of cohesion in the group; the automatic fight-flight response during group interactions; members' ability to tolerate diversity; and the leaders' capacity to foster safety within the group. This book will help group leaders gain a richer understanding of attachment theory and attachment based techniques that will ultimately benefit their groups. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy.

Augmenting the Sense of Attachment Security in Group Contexts: The Effects of a Responsive Leader and a Cohesive Group

MARIO MIKULINCER, PH.D.
PHILLIP R. SHAVER, PH.D.

ABSTRACT

According to attachment theory, the availability of caring, supportive relationship partners, beginning in infancy, is important to developing a sense of attachment security, which in turn fosters the development of stable self-esteem, constructive coping strategies, maintenance of mental health, and formation of mutually satisfying relationships throughout life. In this article, we move beyond the well-researched correlates of attachment security and the laboratory priming of security-enhancing mental representations to propose a broader group-related model of psychological change. According to this model, repeated interactions with responsive and supportive leaders and cohesive groups beneficially alter a person’s attachment patterns and psychological functioning. We review prospective longitudinal findings showing that being involved in a relationship with a responsive and supportive leader or a cohesive and supportive group creates long-term beneficial changes in attachment-related cognitions and feelings and in broader psychological functioning. The findings provide strong support for Bowlby’s ideas about the plasticity of the attachment system across the life span and the growth-enhancing consequences of responsive leaders and cohesive groups.

In his exposition of attachment theory, John Bowlby (1973, 1980, 1982) explained why the availability of caring, supportive relationship partners, beginning in infancy, is so important to developing a sense of attachment security (confidence that one is competent and lovable and that others will be available and supportive when needed), which in turn fosters the development of stable self-esteem, constructive coping strategies, maintenance of mental health, and formation of mutually satisfying relationships throughout life. In our research, we have consistently found that the dispositional sense of security and the contextual priming of mental representations of security have beneficial effects on mental health, social judgments, and interpersonal behaviors (see Mikulincer & Shaver, 2016, for an extensive review).

In this article, we move beyond the well-researched correlates of attachment security and the laboratory priming of security-enhancing mental representations to propose a broader group-related model of psychological change. According to this model, repeated interactions with responsive and supportive leaders and cohesive groups beneficially alter a person’s attachment patterns and psychological functioning. We review prospective longitudinal findings showing that being involved in a relationship with a responsive and supportive leader or a cohesive and supportive group creates long-term beneficial changes in attachment-related cognitions and feelings and in broader psychological functioning. The findings provide strong support for Bowlby’s ideas about the plasticity of the attachment system across the life span and the growth-enhancing consequences of responsive leaders and cohesive groups.

ATTACHMENT THEORY: BASIC CONCEPTS

The basic tenet of attachment theory is that human beings are born with an innate psychobiological system (the attachment behavioral system) that motivates them to seek proximity to protective others (attachment figures) in times of need (Bowlby, 1982). According to Bowlby (1982), these attachment figures (whom he called “stronger and wiser” caregivers) provide a “safe haven” in times of need (they reliably provide protection, comfort, and relief) and a “secure base” (the support that allows a child or adult relationship partner to pursue non-attachment goals, with confidence, in a relatively safe and encouraging environment). The attainment of protection and comfort from attachment figures creates an inner sense of attachment security, which normally terminates proximity-seeking behavior and allows a person to engage in non-attachment activities, such as creative exploration and acquisition of skills, in a relaxed manner, with confidence that support will be available if needed when engaging in these activities.

During infancy and childhood, primary caregivers (e.g., parents) are likely to serve as attachment figures (e.g., Ainsworth, 1991). In adolescence and adulthood, a wider variety of relationship partners can serve as attachment figures, including not just parents but other relatives, close friends, and romantic partners (see Zeifman & Hazan, 2016, for a review). There may also be context-specific attachment figures—real or potential sources of comfort and support in specific milieus, such as teachers or coaches, organizational leaders, and psychotherapists or counselors (e.g., Al-Yagon & Mikulincer, 2006; Mallinckrodt & Jeong, 2015; Mayseless & Popper, 2007). Moreover, groups, institutions, pets, and symbolic personages (e.g., God) can become safe havens and secure bases (e.g., Granqvist, Mikulincer, & Shaver, 2010; Rom & Mikulincer, 2003; Zilcha-Mano, Mikulincer, & Shaver, 2012). In addition, adults can obtain comfort and protection by calling upon mental representations of relationship partners who regularly provide a secure base (e.g., Mikulincer, Gillath, & Shaver, 2002).

Beyond conceptualizing the activation and functioning of the attachment behavioral system, Bowlby (1973) and Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, and Wall (1978) identified major individual differences in attachment security and various forms of insecurity, which result from variations in the responsiveness of attachment figures to one’s bids for proximity and support. Interactions with attachment figures who are responsive and supportive in times of need promote a sense of attachment security and lead to the formation of positive working models (mental representations of the self and others). When attachment figures are not supportive, however, negative working models are formed, worries about others’ intentions and one’s own worth and lovability are aroused, and attachment-related insecurities become salient and persistent.

In extensions of the theory to adolescents and adults, researchers have conceptualized these attachment insecurities in terms of two major dimensions, attachment anxiety and avoidance (e.g., Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998). The first dimension, anxiety, reflects the degree to which a person worries that a partner will not be available in times of need; the second dimension, avoidance, reflects the extent to which a person distrusts relationship partners’ goodwill and strives to maintain emotional distance from partners. People who score low on both dimensions are said to be secure or securely attached. An adult’s location on these insecurity dimensions can be assessed with either self-report questionnaires or coded clinical interviews (see Mikulincer & Shaver, 2016, for a review of measures).

THE BROADEN-AND-BUILD CYCLE OF ATTACHMENT SECURITY

Based on an extensive review of adult attachment studies, we (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2016) propose that interactions with responsive and supportive attachment figures in times of need activate what we call (inspired by Fredrickson, 2001) a broaden-and-build cycle of attachment security. This cycle is a cascade of mental and behavioral events that enhances subjective well-being and mental health, personal and social adjustment, satisfying close relationships, and autonomous personal growth. Interactions with responsive and supportive attachment figures, by imparting a pervasive sense of safety, assuage distress and evoke positive emotions. They also contribute to a reservoir of cognitive representations and emotional memories related to successful distress management, one’s own value and competence, and other people’s beneficence. Research has consistently shown that the actual or symbolic presence of supportive attachment figures in times of need sustains a background sense of hope and optimism, heightens a person’s confidence in relationship partners’ goodwill, and strengthens his or her sense of self-worth—thanks to being valued, loved, and viewed as special by caring attachment figures (see Mikulincer & Shaver, 2016, for a review of the evidence).

The broaden-and-build cycle of attachment security is renewed every time one notices that an actual or symbolic responsive attachment figure is available in times of need. In our experimental laboratory studies, for example, we have consistently found that priming thoughts of a responsive and supportive attachment figure (subliminally exposing participants to the name of this figure) has positive effects on mood, compassionate and pro-social feelings and behaviors, and tolerance toward outgroup members, and this happens even in the case of otherwise insecure or insecurely attached people (e.g., Mikulincer & Shaver, 2001; Mikulincer, Shaver, Gillath, & Nitzberg, 2005; Mikulincer, Shaver, Sahdra, & Bar-On, 2013). Similar positive effects of the priming of security-related mental representations have been found in self-concept, appraisals of romantic partners, and openness to new information regardless of dispositional attachment style (e.g., Dandeneau, Baldwin, Baccus, Sakellaropoulo, & Pruessner, 2007; Mikulincer, Shaver, & Rom, 2011; Otway, Carnelley, & Rowe, 2014). These findings imply that even the preconscious activation of mental representations of attachment-figure availability can, at least temporarily, instill a sense of security and produce positive changes in psychological functioning.

Beyond these laboratory findings, there is evidence that an actual relationship partner who is responsive and supportive over time and situations can instill a stronger and more pervasive sense of attachment security and move a person toward better psychological functioning. Such stable responsive behavior on the part of a relationship partner can counteract insecure people’s dispositional tendencies to doubt a partner’s responsiveness, and therefore set in motion the broaden-and-build cycle of attachment security. In other words, a relationship partner who acts as a reliable secure base can help an insecure person function more securely, both temporarily and chronically. These effects have been found in studies of dating and marital relationships as well as in other dyadic contexts, such as teacher-student and therapist-client relationships (e.g., Overall, Simpson, & Struthers, 2013; Petrowski, Pokorny, Nowacki, & Buchheim, 2013; Pianta, Belsky, Vandergrift, Houts, & Morrison, 2008).

We believe that these positive effects of a security-enhancing relationship partner are not limited to dyadic relationships but can be extended to group activities and settings. In these contexts, we focus on two potential sources of security: (1) the responsiveness of a group’s leader and (2) the responsiveness of the group to a member’s bids for proximity or support. In subsequent sections, we review evidence that these two potential sources of security have positive effects on a person’s well-being and psychological functioning.

THE BROADEN-AND-BUILD CYCLE OF ATTACHMENT SECURITY IN LEADER-FOLLOWER RELATIONSHIPS

From an attachment perspective, leaders can occupy the role of “stronger and wiser” caregiver and provide a safe haven and secure base for their followers (Mayseless & Popper, 2007). Like other security-enhancing attachment figures, effective leaders are likely to be sensitive and responsive to their followers’ needs; provide advice, guidance, and emotional and instrumental resources to group members; build followers’ sense of self-worth, competence, and mastery; affirm their ability to deal with challenges; and encourage their personal growth (Haslam, Reicher, & Platow, 2015).

Following this conceptualization of leader-follower relations, a sensitive and responsive leader, like other security-enhancing attachment figures, can support a broaden-and-build cycle of attachment security in followers, thereby increasing their self-esteem, competence, autonomy, creativity, and well-being. By the same token, as in other cases of insensitive and unresponsive attachment figures, a leader’s inability or unwillingness to respond sensitively and supportively to followers’ needs can magnify followers’ anxieties, feelings of demoralization, or inclination to rebel (“protest,” in attachment-theory terms). Moreover, an insensitive or selfish leader can fuel followers’ attachment insecurities and hence either increase childish, anxious dependence on a destructive (e.g., totalitarian) figure or compulsively self-reliant dismissal of the leader’s support and assistance. In either case, a leader’s lack of concern and support can radically alter the leader-follower relationship and transform what began with the seeming promise of a safe haven and a secure base into a destructive, conflicted, hostile relationship that is self-defeating for the leader and followers, and for the organization to which they belong.

In two studies, Davidovitz, Mikulincer, Shaver, Ijzak, and Popper (2007) found that a responsive and supportive military officer has a positive effect on soldiers’ performance and adjustment during combat training. In these studies, Davidovitz and colleagues (2007) focused on officers’ attachment orientations and the extent to which these orientations affected their functioning as security-enhancing attachment figures and contributed to followers’ performance and mental health. In one study, 549 Israeli soldiers in regular military service, from 60 different combat units that were participating in a leadership workshop, rated their instrumental and socioemotional functioning within their unit. Soldiers also rated (a) the extent to which their direct officer used power to serve and empower soldiers’ needs and aspirations and respected the soldiers’ rights and feelings (what Howell, 1988, called “socialized leadership”), and (b) the extent to which their direct officer was an effective support provider in demanding and challenging situations. Each of the 60 direct officers also completed ratings describing his performance as a socialized leader and an effective support provider for his followers. Each officer also rated his own attachment orientation.

Across both officers’ and soldiers’ reports, more secure officers scored higher on socialized leadership and were able to deal more effectively with their soldiers’ emotional needs and provide effective instrumental support in times of need. Findings also revealed positive effects of an officer’s attachment security on his soldiers’ instrumental and socioemotional functioning, and these effects were mediated by an officer’s socialized leadership and his ability to provide support to soldiers. It seems likely, therefore, in line with an attachment-theoretical perspective on leader-follower relations, that an officer’s security is associated with higher responsiveness to soldiers’ needs and higher supportiveness in times of need (core characteristics of a security-enhancing attachment figure), which improves soldiers’ functioning.

In a second study, Davidovitz and colleagues (2007) approached 541 Israeli military recruits and their 72 direct officers at the beginning of a 4-month period of intensive combat training and asked them to report on their attachment orientations. At the same time, soldiers completed a self-report scale measuring their baseline mental health. After 2 months, soldiers reported on their mental health again and provided appraisals of their officer as a security provider (i.e., the officer’s ability and willingness to be available in times of need and to accept and care for his or her soldiers rather than rejecting and criticizing them). Two months later (4 months after combat training began), soldiers once again evaluated their mental health.

The results indicated that the more secure an officer was, the more his soldiers viewed him as a sensitive and responsive figure. More important, an officer’s attachment security and his perceived sensitivity and responsivity seemed to produce positive changes in soldiers’ mental health during combat training. At the beginning of training, baseline mental health was exclusively associated with soldiers’ own attachment insecurities. However, officers’ secure orientation and their relatively high levels of perceived sensitivity and responsiveness produced significant changes in soldiers’ mental health over the weeks of training (taking the baseline assessment into account). The higher the officer’s security and the higher his perceived sensitivity and responsiveness, the more his soldiers’ mental health improved over 2 and 4 months of intensive combat training. These findings support the parallels betwe...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• Introduction – Attachment in Group Psychotherapy: Bridging Theories, Research, and Clinical Techniques
• 1 Augmenting the Sense of Attachment Security in Group Contexts: The Effects of a Responsive Leader and a Cohesive Group
• 2 Mentalizing, Attachment, and Epistemic Trust in Group Therapy
• 3 Group Psychotherapy as a Neural Exercise: Bridging Polyvagal Theory and Attachment Theory
• 4 Attachment Anxiety and Attachment Avoidance: Members’ Attachment Fit with Their Group and Group Relationships
• 5 Feeling Worse Before Feeling Better: A Case of Increased Disorganized Mental States Following Group Psychotherapy
• 6 Establishing a Secure Base to Increase Exploration of Diversity in Groups
• 7 Attachment and Interpersonal Theory and Group Therapy: Two Sides of the Same Coin
• 8 Commentary: How Understanding Attachment Enhances Group Therapist Effectiveness
• Index