As affect is repeatedly brought into the therapeutic relationship and successfully managed, the client gradually internalizes these skills by sculpting the neural structures necessary for autoregulation. As in childhood, the repeated cycle of attunement, rupture of the attunement, and its reestablishment gradually creates an expectation of reconnection (Lachmann & Beebe, 1996). The learned expectation of relief in the future enhances the ability to tolerate more intense affect in the midst of the stressful moment.
