ABSTRACT
Attachment theorists have developed the concept of the internal working model of relationships. This offers a framework to counsellors for effecting change in their clients in a very practical way which has strong parallels with the Rational Emotive Therapy (R.E.T.) counsellor's concept of the client's 'set of beliefs about the world' or 'basic assumptions'. R.E.T. is rooted in the cognitive-behavioural tradition. From each perspective, the counsellor works with the client's beliefs, often long-held and resistant to change, in order to create new representations with which to make predictions about people and to form new relationships. Counsellors working with children in particular will often use symbolic representations of inner conflicts in order to facilitate the process of change. Some counsellors, of course, campaign actively against eclecticism and argue a strong case for distinctiveness in theoretical approaches to therapeutic work with clients.
