Attachment-Based Psychotherapy (Psychodynamic) Flashcards

A therapeutic approach integrating attachment theory and psychodynamic principles to address relational patterns and early emotional wounds.

Mental representations of self and others formed in early attachment relationships that guide expectations in adult relationships.

Developing a secure therapeutic relationship provides a corrective emotional experience that fosters trust and self-cohesion.

Clients may reenact early relational patterns—clinging, distancing, or fearing rejection—within the therapeutic relationship.

Re-experiencing feelings from early attachment figures and projecting them onto the therapist.

The therapist’s emotional responses to the client’s attachment needs or defenses; a tool for understanding relational dynamics.

The collaborative and emotionally attuned bond that mirrors the secure base needed for exploration and healing.

The therapist provides safety and attunement that allow clients to explore painful experiences and new ways of relating.

Breakdowns in the therapeutic connection that, when repaired empathically, strengthen trust and emotional resilience.

The ability to reflect on one’s own and others’ mental states; often impaired in attachment trauma and restored in therapy.

The capacity to understand behavior in terms of underlying thoughts, emotions, and intentions—key to secure attachment.

Learning to identify, tolerate, and modulate emotions through a responsive therapeutic relationship.

The therapist’s capacity to sense and accurately respond to the client’s emotional experience.

Unconscious patterns of relating encoded through early experience and enacted in therapy rather than verbalized.

A healing interpersonal event in which old expectations of rejection or abandonment are disconfirmed.