ABSTRACT
Attachment-based understandings and techniques have always had a place within family therapy (Byng-Hall 1995). The earlier view predominantly drew on ideas that explained that the role of the therapist was to create a safe space within the therapy to enable families to explore dif®cult emotions. It was further suggested that the therapist actually became an attachment ®gure for family members. The development of attachment-based ideas in therapy, however, has taken the discussion to a more complex level. Hughes (2007) for example has promulgated attachmentfocused family therapy where the therapist must seek to repair any attachment `damage' by modelling being a secure attachment ®gure. She also teaches both child and parent the fundamental social skills that are learnt through an appropriate attachment bond. These include the ability to be empathic, to be re¯ective, to understand emotions and to attune to other human beings. The therapist aims to embody these capabilities and enables a conversation to occur that helps the family learn these skills. This process begins with the therapist entering the world of the family by matching her affective style to that of the family. Drawing upon ideas about how children learn to be socially competent, Hughes (2007) describes therapists as leading parents and children into dialogues that allow for the regulation of strong emotions and encourage re¯ection upon experience.
