ABSTRACT
In a certain sense, distinguishing too sharply between attachment theory and psychoanalytic theory can be somewhat misleading insofar as attachment theory can be understood as a particular kind of contemporary psychoanalytic theory or, more specifically, as a particular kind of object relations theory. Despite their close links, however, there are sufficient differences between attachment theory and contemporary psychoanalytic theory in a generic sense–in influences, methods, and traditions–to make it useful to compare them. This comparison furthermore can facilitate focusing on more specific issues that are worth pursuing in their own right.
