Each programme draws on established research across relationship science, cognitive and behavioural psychology, attachment, learning and emotion regulation. The specific evidence base differs according to the psychological processes the programme is designed to address.
01 · Research Area
Attachment Theory & Internal Working Models
Attachment research examines how expectations about availability, responsiveness and rejection influence behaviour within close relationships. Adult attachment is commonly conceptualised dimensionally, particularly through attachment anxiety and attachment avoidance, rather than as fixed personality 'types'.
Application in This Programme
What Came Before examines how previous relational experiences may influence expectations, threat responses, reassurance-seeking, distancing, accommodation and the interpretation of closeness in current relationships. Attachment is used as one explanatory framework, not as a diagnosis.
02 · Research Area
Relational Schemas & Learned Expectations
Repeated interpersonal experiences contribute to cognitive-affective representations of relationships: expectations about how other people behave, what closeness requires, and what an individual expects to receive or tolerate within intimate relationships.
Application in This Programme
The programme identifies assumptions and expectations that may have become normalised through previous relationships and asks participants to distinguish learned familiarity from present-day compatibility.
03 · Research Area
Self-Concept & Relational Identity
Close relationships interact with self-concept. Relationship experiences can influence perceived worth, identity, expectations of acceptance and the degree to which validation is sought through another person's behaviour.
Application in This Programme
Participants examine where being chosen, reassured or retained by another person has become linked to conclusions about their own worth.
04 · Research Area
Repetition & Familiarity
Familiar interpersonal patterns can influence attention, interpretation and behavioural responses in later relationships. Familiarity does not necessarily indicate preference or compatibility; previously learned patterns may simply be easier to recognise and predict.
Application in This Programme
The programme maps recurring relational sequences without reducing them to statements such as 'you always choose the wrong people'. The objective is to identify specific, modifiable decision points.
05 · Research Area
Emotion Regulation
Emotion-regulation research examines the processes through which individuals monitor, interpret and modify emotional responses. Interpersonal threat can increase reassurance-seeking, withdrawal, suppression, rumination or other regulatory strategies.
Application in This Programme
Participants identify what they do when closeness feels threatened and develop alternative responses that do not depend entirely on another person's reassurance or availability.
06 · Research Area
Self-Compassion & Shame
Self-compassion research distinguishes constructive self-reflection from global negative self-evaluation. Shame can reduce the usefulness of reflection by converting behavioural information into conclusions about personal defectiveness.
Application in This Programme
The programme examines past choices without requiring participants to condemn the person they were when those choices were made.