Authored by Henry Strick van Linschoten (Psychotherapy aims) to provide the patient with a secure base from which he can explore the various unhappy and painful aspects of his life, past and present, many of which he finds it difficult or perhaps impossible to think about and reconsider without a trusted companion to provide support, encouragement, sympathy, and, on occasion, guidance. (Bowlby, 1988:138) Introduction and history Attachment theory is a combination of ideas in developmental psychology; a set of concepts such as the attachment behavioural system itself, the primary caregiver and the distinct categories of attachment relationships of infants and adults; [...]