ABSTRACT
B. Farber, R. Lippert and D. Nevas suggest that the patient’s relationship with the therapist is significantly different from a childhood attachment relationship but that ‘viewing the therapist as an attachment figure can offer new perspectives on therapeutic work’. Individuals with more preoccupied traits tend to be more obviously dysregulated by threats to their attachment security than the dismissing patients who are skilled at hiding their distress. When a therapist retires from an organisation, continuity for clients is less problematic as there will be the possibility of referral on within the team and the organisation itself usually has a containing function. The therapist’s sense of loss will depend in part on the state of the organisation. Where a clinician has come to a timely retirement and has a sense that the organisation is in good health, there may be satisfaction from having contributed to a going concern, though there could also be envy of colleagues who remain in post.
