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Published on: June 8, 2018
Repairing the bond in important relationships: a dynamic for personality maturation
1Timberlawn Research Foundation, Dallas, TX 75227, USA.
Objective:
The author sought to establish a common set of interactional dynamics involved in growth-facilitating interpersonal relationships.
Method:
Empirical studies of the three most common dyadic relationships associated with personality growth were reviewed: infant-mother attachment behaviors, the psychotherapeutic alliance, and the marital relationship.
Results:
Empirical and clinical studies support the conclusion that growth is facilitated when a strong affective bond is established with an important other and the inevitable disruptions of this bond are repaired.
Conclusions:
Personality maturation across the lifespan has been attributed to the internalization of admirable qualities of important others. The data surveyed suggest that the interactional dynamics associated with internalization involve establishing a strong affective bond with an important other and repairing this bond's inevitable ruptures. It is both the rupture and the repair that are crucial.
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