The relationship between attachment styles of therapist and client pairs, working alliance, and session impact

This study addresses the understudied impact of attachment styles in therapy, particularly in the Turkish literature. We examine the therapist's and client's attachment styles, their working alliance, and session impact. Our aim is to contribute to the understanding of how these variables interrelate in both global and Turkish contexts. The study was conducted with 28 therapists (M= 32.67, SD= 6.19) and their 44 clients (M= 29.57, SD= 7.27). ECR-R Turkish Version, Working Alliance Inventory Turkish Version, Client Attachment to Therapist Scale Turkish Version, Session Evaluation Questionnaire Turkish Version, and The Symptom Assessment – 45 Questionnaire Turkish Version were used for the study. There were notable correlations between the therapist's overall working alliance and session smoothness (M= 4.4, SD= 1.44), as well as client's session depth (M= 5.77, SD= 1.15). Anxious attachment in clients (M= 4.5, SD= 1.16) significantly correlated positively with their overall working alliance (M= 5.97, SD= 0.73). However, fearful-avoidant attachment (M= 1.79, SD= 0.56) was negatively correlated with both overall working alliance and session depth. Preoccupied-merger attachment (M= 3.3, SD= 1.1) correlated positively with overall working alliance. Secure attachment (M= 5.26, SD= 0.7) correlated positively with both therapists' overall working alliance (M= 5.96, SD= 0.8) and client's overall working alliance, as well as client's session depth. Lastly, client's overall working alliance correlated with therapist's session depth (M= 5.5, SD= 1.1) and client's session depth. This study contributes to attachment and therapy literature by exploring the relationships between attachment, working alliance, and session impact. Key Words: Attachment Style, Therapist, Client, Working Alliance, Session Impact.