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Article Excerpt
Critical incident experiences are a powerful source of counselor development (T. M. Skovholt & P. R. McCarthy, 1988a, 1988b) and are relevant to attachment issues. An attachment theory perspective of supervision is presented and applied to a critical incident case scenario. By focusing on the behavioral systems (i.e., attachment, caregiving, and exploratory) identified by J. Bowlby (1969), previous conceptualizations are expanded by illuminating relational concepts that supervisors could use to facilitate counselor learning.
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Clinical supervision facilitates counselor development and engages the counselor-in-training (i.e., the supervisee) in a hierarchal relationship with a supervisor who is more knowledgeable about client care and the counseling process and who evaluates supervisee learning (Bernard & Goodyear, 2004). In conceptualizing this relationship as the supervisory working alliance, Bordin (1983) emphasized the value of an emotional bond between the supervisor and supervisee but did not provide a clear definition of this concept. A more thorough understanding of the supervisor-supervisee relationship can be found using Bowlby's (1988) attachment theory, which explains relational bonding, motivation, affect management, thoughts, and behavior, and is pertinent to the supervisor and supervisee's positions. The purpose of this article is to apply attachment theory to supervision. We discuss the theory, define counselor critical incidents (Skovholt & McCarthy, 1988a), illustrate the perspective with a critical incident case scenario, and conclude with implications.
Attachment Theory
Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1969) could make an important contribution to supervision by illuminating relationship functioning that could be used to design interventions. The theory's relevance for supervision is illustrated by Ladany, Friedlander, and Nelson (2005). These authors noted that the supervisory alliance is essential to supervision effectiveness and identified two important aspects of this relationship: (a) the quality of the emotional bond and (b) the supervisor's awareness of and sensitivity to the supervisee's "vulnerability and need for support and reassurance" (Ladany et al., 2005, p. 13). In addition, consistent with research indicating that supervisory support and direction are important to the supervisee (Rabinowitz, Heppner, & Roehlke, 1986), Ladany et al. proposed that the supervisor's focus shifts between addressing the alliance directly (e.g., when the supervisee becomes upset during the supervisory interaction or needs reassurance) and using the alliance as the context or catalyst for supervisee learning. In emphasizing the quality of the emotional bond and shifting between relationship and learning interventions, we believe that Ladany et al. described fundamental aspects of attachment theory.
Attachment theory (Bowlby, 1988) explains emotionally important relationships and their link to learning and development throughout life. Although it is somewhat intuitive, the theory is applied more effectively if its concepts, process, and associated terminology are well understood. The theory is supported by research across several types of emotionally important relationships: parental (Cassidy, 1999), romantic (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2003), academic mentoring (Lopez, 1997), group (Rom & Mikulincer, 2003), and counseling (Ligiero & Gelso, 2002; Meyer & Pilkonis, 2001). In applications to supervision (Bennett & Vitale Saks, 2006; Hill, 1992; Neswald-McCalip, 2001; Pistole & Watkins, 1995; Riggs & Bretz, 2006; White & Queener, 2003), scholars primarily have focused on the attachment system.
In proposing attachment theory, Bowlby (1969) linked three innate, organically based behavioral systems: attachment, caregiving, and exploratory. The interactions of these systems account for relational functioning, personality development, and effective work and learning (Mikulincer & Shaver, 2003). Attachment refers to an emotional bond to a specific, emotionally important person. This important person (e.g., a romantic partner, counselor, or supervisor) is referred to as the caregiver. The attached person (e.g., supervisee) is motivated to maintain a range of proximity to and seek care from the caregiver, which results in safety and felt security. The caregiver also experiences an emotional bond, which is termed the caregiving bond. The caregiving bond motivates the caregiver to be accessible and proximal to provide care when the attached person exhibits what is referred to as attachment behavior (e.g., emotional reactions such as anxiety, searching for or contacting the caregiver). The caregiver responds to attachment behavior by providing safe haven interventions, such as reassurance and comfort, or secure base interventions, such as guidance to help solve problems, make decisions, or examine the meaning of internal thoughts and feelings. To provide interventions, the caregiver must be sensitive to cues and responsive to concerns. The caregiver's interventions must occur in a timely and flexible way that takes into account the situation and the attached person's attachment orientation. After the caregiver intervention, the attached person may return to exploratory behavior, which is reflected in intellectual or work activities such as learning, problem solving, guiding, and so forth. When motivated by the exploratory behavioral system, the attached person explores the environment without undue regard for proximity to the caregiver but still returns to the caregiver when needing the secure base function.
The normative attachment process addresses the meaning and purpose of behavior motivated from the innate behavioral systems (Bowlby, 1969). Certain conditions, such as fatigue, novel experience, external threat (e.g., performance feedback), or internal distress (e.g., doubt, fear, confusion), generate anxiety and activate the attachment system. The attached person exhibits attachment behavior, which signals care seeking and needing the caregiver's accessibility. Attachment system activation prioritizes care seeking and inhibits other behavioral systems (e.g., exploratory system behavior, offering support to others) until the attachment system is deactivated. The attachment system is deactivated when the caregiver provides psychological or physical proximity with behavior that soothes or comforts the attached person; that is, when the caregiver provides the safe haven function. For example, a...
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