PSYCHOTHERAPY ENGAGERS VERSUS NON-ENGAGERS

slightly better to these in short-term treatments, and attend to the structure of the internal
working models of clients who score high on both the anxiety and avoidance attachment
dimensions (since research suggests that much varies in this group’s functioning in
therapy and outcome). Sixth, therapists may keep in mind that attachment style can be
modified with treatment, even in brief treatments and for patients with severe attachment
difficulties (e.g., borderline personality disorder), and that change in attachment can be
considered a treatment goal. For achieving this goal, preliminary research findings
suggest that focusing on the relation between therapist and client and/or using
interpretations may be helpful in changing attachment style, at least for severely
disturbed clients with personality disorders (Levy et al., 2006), and that a range of
treatments might be useful for changing attachments styles of less disturbed patients with
neurotic or Axis I disorders (Levy et al., 2011).
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