Attachment-based psychotherapy is a branch of relational psychoanalysis exploring interrelated emotional forms of attachment from birth onwards.
The theory behind attachment-based psychotherapy can be traced back to the end of the 19th Century, but it's really the work of John Bowlby that has had the most influence. Bowlby was a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst interested in early child development and the forming of early attachments - secure, anxious, avoidant, ambivalent or disorganised. This led to an understanding of how problematic attachment experiences early on in life are subsequently re-enacted later in adult life. He believed that secure and supportive relationships enable us to develop a sense of who we are. Hence, a growing attachment-based relationship with a psychotherapist will allow the client opportunities to mourn past losses, and explore the impact of important relationships on the client's life in the present and the past.
Related UKCP modality section:
Council for psychoanalysis and Jungian analysis (CPJA) | 
