Therapist Attachment and the Working Alliance: The Moderating Effect of Emotional Regulation

Objective: To explore whether the therapist’s emotional regulation strategies moderate the relationship between therapist attachment and the working alliance from the therapist’s perspective. Method: A non-experimental, descriptive correlational design was used. Sixty-three psychotherapists (6 men, 57 women) participated in this study, ranging in age from 27 to 69 years, with a mean age of 39.3 years. The therapists completed the Attachment evaluation questionnaire for adults, the Spanish Adaptation of the Working Alliance Inventory, and the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale. Associations between attachment and emotional regulation traits and working alliance were examined using multilevel modeling, controlling for therapist demographics, and clinical experience. Results: Moderation analyses revealed significant interaction effects between therapist attachment and emotional regulation strategies. Conclusion: Attachment styles would not significantly affect the therapist’s ability to establish an adequate therapeutic alliance bond. The results show that the attachment style of the therapists interacted with their emotional regulation abilities

Portuguese validation of the Adult Separation Anxiety-Questionnaire (ASA-27)

Adult separation anxiety disorder (ASAD) is characterized by developmentally inappropriate and excessive fear or anxiety concerning separation from those to whom the individual is attached. Despite the high rates of this diagnosis among Portuguese adults, there is a lack of measures to assess it. In this study, we assessed the psychometric properties of a Portuguese adaptation of the Adult Separation Anxiety questionnaire (ASA-27) on a sample of 267 adults (72.7% women) aged 18-80 years (M = 40.5, SD = 13.1). Factor structure, internal consistency, and convergence validity were examined. This study confirmed the single-factor structure of the Portuguese version of ASA-27. Consistency was high for the total sample (ω = .92) and by gender (ω = .93 and 92, men and women groups, respectively). The scale was positively related to the Portuguese version of State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) (r = .57, p< .001, for both State and trait anxiety scales) and Composite Codependency Scale total score (r = .29, p< .001). In addition, the ASA-27 total score showed incremental validity in the explanation of anxiety measured by STAI. In conclusion, results show that the Portuguese version of the ASA-27 is a reliable and valid measure of ASAD

Abbreviated Scale for the Assessment of Adult Separation Anxiety Questionnaire in the Spanish Population

El trastorno de ansiedad por separación se caracteriza por un miedo o ansiedad excesivos e inapropiados para el desarrollo en relación con la separación de las personas a las que el individuo está unido. El objetivo del presente estudio fue examinar: estructura factorial, consistencia interna y validez convergente de la versión abreviada del ASA-27 con 403 individuos (55.8% mujeres) de entre 18-86 años (M = 37.1 y DT = 13.9) de España. El ASA-10 correlacionó significativamente con las subescalas del Inventario de Ansiedad Estado-Rasgo, del Cuestionario de Apego Adulto y del Cuestionario de Dependencia Emocional (rs = .11 a .63, ps < .05). Presenta una estructura unifactorial y una consistencia interna adecuada (ω = .98). El ASA-10 mostró una sensibilidad del 97.9% para los casos con dificultades de ansiedad clínica. Los resultados muestran que el ASA-10 es una medida fiable y válida de la ansiedad por separación en adultos