Creating the Capacity for Attachment

This work examines the concept and process of "merger" - a fundamental aspect of all healthy relations - and its applications in the treatment of addictions. It demonstrates the development of the immersive transference, illustrating its usefulness in individual psychotherapy.

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Detached, alienated people, many of them functioning with a pathologically developed false self, barely navigate life's challenges. Our cultural emphasis on autonomy and separateness has led to a retreat from valuing interpersonal, communal dependence and has greatly contributed to a rise in the number of people whose suffering is often expressed in addictions and personality disorders. Using actual patient material including diaries and letters, Karen Walant's Creating the Capacity for Attachment shows how 'immersive moments' in therapy—moments of complete understanding between patient and therapist—are powerful enough to dislodge the alienated, detached self from its hiding place and enable the individual to begin incorporating his or her inner core into his or her external, social self.