ABSTRACT
The goal of individual therapy from within attachment theory is to create optimal or effective dependency. Given that humans need secure relationships to cope with distress and effectively regulate emotions, the goal of individual emotionally focused therapy is to help clients move from defensiveness and rigidity to being more open to their experience, more able to engage with strong emotion, and more able to create a coherent meaningful narrative about the self and key relationships. “Individual mental health problems such as depression, anxiety, trauma survival reactions, relational conflict, substance use and other addictive processes can all be framed as ineffective attempts to cope with separation distress” in the absence of available and responsive sources of social engagement for comfort and support. Attachment theory as a theory of emotion regulation recognises few basic strategies for regulating emotion when in distress. The primary and most effective pattern is the secure strategy—clear reaching to an accessible and responsive attachment figure.
