USO CLINICO DELL ADULT ATTACHMENT INTERVIEW: UN APPROFONDIMENTO

This article aims at illustrating how the patients assessment and the process of psychotherapy can be significantly improved by the administration of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). The AAI questions evoke the memories of the interactions with the caregiving figures during childhood, thus providing an access to the patients states of mind regarding attachment; these childhood memories are crucial for the individuals approach to world and relationships, as they constitute the core of the Internal Working Models. Accordingly, the administration of the AAI can help the clinician and the patient in the development of the therapeutic alliance, also allowing an in-depth exploration of the patients childhood experiences and attachment representations. A close examination of three AAI scales (involving/role reversing: a scale concerning an inferred experience with parents; dismissing derogation: a scale concerning an organized, insecure, state of mind; unresolved abuse: a scale concerning an unresolved/disorganized state of mind) and the analysis of related excerpts from some AAI transcripts illustrate the potential usefulness of the AAI in the clinical frame.