Blog

What blind spots, and benefits, can therapists with avoidant attachment histories bring to the therapeutic relationship? Concluding her series about supporting highly defended clients, Attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist Linda Cundy turns her attention to the ‘orchids’ among us – and wonders how therapist attachment patterns may play out as we start returning to face-to-face work.

How can we support highly defended clients to explore the past and their internal worlds? In her seventh blog about working with avoidant attachment, Attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist Linda Cundy looks at constructing meaningful self-narratives and encountering defences – including the common defence of over-identifying with caregivers

How might we begin to work with clients with avoidant attachment patterns? In her third blog about working with highly defended clients, Attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist Linda Cundy shares how she has engaged clients who have learned to hide their needs and avoid commitment.

Avoidant personalities come in many different shapes and sizes, and may even be reacting to the coronavirus crisis in quite contrasting ways. In her fifth blog about working with highly defended clients, Attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist Linda Cundy considers the contribution of a person’s sensitivity to their relational environment, and the role of secondary defences.

When our clients are tortured by self-criticism, we need to step in to protect them. In her penultimate blog about supporting highly defended clients, Attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist Linda Cundy explores our relationships with our punitive superegos – and suggests some ways therapists can help clients to internalise a different kind of voice.

How might social distancing and social-isolation be affecting clients depending on their attachment patterns? In her fourth blog about working with highly defended clients, Attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist Linda Cundy spots an opportunity for therapists to explore issues around intimacy, need, contamination, intrusion and self-protection.

Why is it important to recognise avoidant attachment patterns early in therapy, and what might we look out for? In her second blog about working with highly defended clients, Attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist Linda Cundy explains why the therapeutic relationship poses such a problem for avoidant individuals – and shares some key features that may show up in assessment.

How can we help avoidant clients to drop their defences and allow deep emotions to emerge? In her sixth blog about working with highly defended clients, Attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist Linda Cundy discusses the centrality of affect regulation and mourning in this work, taking in the role of countertransference, self-compassion and humour, Fairbairn’s ‘moral defence’ and Stern’s ‘moments of meeting’.

Could we be doing more for highly defended clients? Attachment-based psychoanalytic psychotherapist Linda Cundy believes so. Embarking on a monthly blog series on working with avoidant attachment, she introduces some common characteristics among avoidant clients, and suggests four key ways in which therapists can help to engage them in therapy.