Lyddon considers the value that attachment theory may have for counselling psychologists and briefly reviews the articles in this special issue of the Counselling Psychologist dedicated to attachment theory and research.

Lyddon notes that attachment theory draws from, and partially integrates the biological, cognitive, developmental, affective and social learning perspectives of psychology, and that it crosses the divide between the personal and the social, considering aspects of personal development and change over time.

Lyddon considers attachment theory to be of practical use in three main ways. Firstly, by providing a means to map out developmental pathways leading to adaptation and maladaption. Secondly, by investigation and explaining how clients working models may be altered through the experience of counselling and the counselling relationship. Thirdly, by providing a framework within which counselling hypotheses may be tested. He notes that attachment research may provide a heuristic and integrated framework which will permit the distance between science and clinical practise to be reduced, if not overcome.