[The physician-patient relationship in the context of the attachment theory]

This work presents the application in medical practice of relationship rules derived from the theory of attachment which was first formulated in the fifties by John Bowlby, a British psychiatrist, and further developed by the American developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth. This theory is considered to be one of the more outstanding achievements of psychology in the 20th century. Attachment types may reveal themselves in the form of specific behavior which characterizes the relationship of the patient with medical staff. The reaction to stress is shaped by the experience of childhood during which the child develops and perpetuates its own style of emotional expression and coping with stress. The child's model of coping with stress matures along with the experience of care from adult caregivers and determines the future pattern of coping with strange situations and solving problems through open communication and "accommodation" of negative or distressing emotions during therapy.