Psychothérapie inspirée de la théorie de l'attachement : une perspective basée sur la théorie de l'évolution des systèmes de motivation

A type of adult psychotherapy entirely based on the study of the attachment system seems unlikely. A type of psychotherapy informed by attachment theory and research, but also able to consider aspects of human relatedness different from attachment, on the contrary, is a possibility at hand. To be congruent with Bowlby's approach to the study of attachment, however, such an attachment informed psychotherapy must conceive the various other components of human relatedness as evolved systems to be identified with an ethological approach. This paper dwells first on the roots in Bowlby's thinking of a study of the interactions between the attachment system and other evolved systems that control various key aspects of human relatedness. Then, it outlines a type of attachment informed psychotherapy that is emerging in the treatment of adult mental disorders rooted in infant attachment disorganization and complex childhood trauma.