Giovanni Liotti (1945-2018): the Pied Noir of research in attachment and psychotherapy

Abstract

This article is a portrait of Giovanni Liotti, eminent psychiatrist and scholar of attachment theory who recently passed away. In this paper, we recall some fundamental steps in his professional and personal life: Liotti's encounter and friendship with Bowlby; Liotti's construction of a bridge between cognitive therapy (of which he was a pioneer) and attachment theory; the interest in attachment disorganization as a precursor of dissociative symptoms and syndromes in adolescence and adulthood; his appreciation for Janet's ideas (which Liotti helped bring back to the attention of clinicians and researchers) and his contribution in highlighting the role of real traumatic experiences in the development of psychopathology; Liotti's attempt to go beyond attachment theory and formulate for the clinical context an evolutionary theory of motivation, which analyzes different interpersonal motivational systems beyond attachment and caregiving, an emphasizes in particular the importance of cooperation in psychotherapy.

Keywords: Giovanni Liotti; John Bowlby; cooperation; disorganized attachment; dissociative disorders.