shame may be an archaic fixation or an introjection. The suggestion is made that self-righteousness is the denial of a need for relationship. A contact-oriented relationship psychotherapy that emphasises methods of inquiry, attunement, and involvement is described.

Recent neurobiological research findings parallel, support, and inform Gestalt field theory’s notions of childhood development. This article examines the neurobiological research literature involving the role and importance of relationship in structuring neural circuits in the first and second year of life, as well as what this information meansfrom a Gestalt constructionist, intersubjective perspective.

Attachment theory has been developed over the last fifty years as one way of understanding the foundations of our capacity and need to make and sustain relationships. It has made an important contribution, not only to the way that we view the development of the earliest relationships in our lives, but also to our understanding of the processes of separation and loss. The implications for psychotherapy in general are becoming clearer, and in this article specific attention is paid to ways in which it may be useful for Gestalt therapists to be mindful of key attachment concepts, how they may emerge in our work, and how they may be used therapeutically.