This study examined the relation of client attachment to the therapist to diverse facets of the therapeutic alliance, client personality, and psychopathological symptoms, as well as the relative importance of therapeutic attachments, personality, and symptomatology in predicting the alliance. Eighty clients in ongoing therapy completed measures of client attachment to therapist (CATS), personality (6FPQ), psychopathological symptoms (BSI), and therapeutic alliance (WAI-Short, CALPAS, HAQ). Secure and Avoidant-Fearful attachment to the therapist correlated positively and negatively, respectively, with total and subscale alliance scores. Preoccupied-Merger therapeutic attachment was unrelated to the alliance. Exploratory analyses suggested however that the relationship between Preoccupied-Merger attachment and the alliance was moderated by the extent to which clients were distressed. Clients' therapeutic attachments were unrelated to basic personality dimensions. Preoccupied-Merger attachment to the therapist correlated significantly with several symptom dimensions. Clients' therapeutic attachments emerged as superior and more consistent predictors, relative to client personality and symptomatology, of the therapeutic alliance.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.