Noah Robinson, MSc

Robinson, N., Hill, C., Kivlighan, D. (2015). Client Crying in Psychotherapy: Relationship to Client and Therapist Attachment Styles and Client Attachment to Therapist. Journal of Counseling Psychology (in press).

Nelson (2005) relates 3 types of crying (inhibited, protest, despair) with 3 dimensions of attachment
(avoidant, anxious, and secure). To test this theory, trained judges rated the intensity of inhibition,
protest, and despair in 347 crying episodes for 40 clients and 14… Show more

Robinson, N., Hill, C., Kivlighan, D. (2015). Client Crying in Psychotherapy: Relationship to Client and Therapist Attachment Styles and Client Attachment to Therapist. Journal of Counseling Psychology (in press).

Nelson (2005) relates 3 types of crying (inhibited, protest, despair) with 3 dimensions of attachment
(avoidant, anxious, and secure). To test this theory, trained judges rated the intensity of inhibition,
protest, and despair in 347 crying episodes for 40 clients and 14 therapists in 1,074 psychotherapy
sessions. Crying occurred once out of every 7 sessions, and usually was characterized by protest or
inhibition. Pre-therapy attachment dimensions of both therapist and client influenced crying. Therapists
with high attachment avoidance had clients who cried frequently but less over time, whereas therapists
with high attachment anxiety had clients who cried with more protest over time. Clients with high
attachment anxiety initially cried with more protest and inhibition, but decreased over time, whereas
clients with low attachment anxiety increased protest over time. Throughout the course of psychotherapy,
therapists who were seen by their clients as establishing a secure attachment elicited more overall crying
and a higher intensity of protest, whereas therapists who were seen by their clients as establishing
insecure attachments had clients who cried less. Clients who established a secure or avoidant relationship
with their therapists, relative to other clients of that therapist, cried infrequently and with inhibition,
whereas clients who established a preoccupied relationship cried relatively often. Changes are suggested for Nelson’s (2005) typology. Show less

Hill, C. E., Kline, K., Bauman, V., Brent, T., Breslin, C., Calderon, M., Campos, C., Goncalves, S., Goss, D., Hamovitz, T., Kuao, P., Robinson, N., Knox, S. (2014). What’s it all about? A qualitative study of meaning in life for counseling psychology doctoral students. Counseling Psychology Quarterly, 28(1), 1-26. doi:10.1080/09515070.2014.965660