Attachment Theory:

AnOverview

Attachment Description Variant of object relations Initially focused on development

of affectional ties between infants and caregivers

Now explains role of attachment across the life span

Supported by considerable empirical research

Understanding of Problems

Psychological problems stem from: Deficits in relationships Deficits/distortions in internal

representations of self, others and relationships

Stresses the need to be close to another person, even as an adult

This need is not pathologicalFrustration of this need can lead to

depression and anxiety

Conception of Therapeutic Intervention

The role of the therapist is to provide “the conditions in which his patient can explore his representational models of himself and his attachment figures with a view to reappraising and restructuring them in the light of the new understanding he acquires and the new experience he has in the therapeutic relationship” (Bowlby, 1988, p. 138).

Conception of Therapeutic Intervention

Insight, from an attachment standpoint, is deemed to be important in terms of understand the nature of one’s internal working models of self, others, and relationships.

Insight is not seen as sufficient to produce lasting change.

Effective psychotherapy must also provide a corrective attachment experience or a new kind of relationship that is therapeutic in itself.

Central Theoretical Constructs

Secure Base

Responsive caregivers provide a secure base from which individuals can explore and freely apply

Individuals who do not experience responsive parenting can be helped through later relationships that provide the experience of a secure base

Internal Working Model

Patterns of attachment, once formed, tend to endure

Children develop inner representational models of themselves and others

Inner models become unconscious Guide feelings and expectations

about self and others, and behavior in relationships with others

Attachment Behavior

Any form of behavior that results in a person attaining or maintaining proximity to some other clearly identified individual who is conceived as better able to cope with the world.

Biological function is protection, and when it is adequately responded to, the individual’s subjective experience is one of security.

Attachment Behavior

Attachment behavior includes: Clinging to caregivers when scared Protesting caregivers’ departure Following caregivers when able Greeting caregivers’ return

When children’s attachment behaviors are adequately responded to, they move freely away from care- givers and explore the environment.

Attachment Behavior Adults, especially when ill, fatigued, or

overwhelmed by life events, also seek proximity to an attachment figure, who is often a sexual partner as well

Characteristics of adult attachment relationships

Proximity seeking Secure base effect Separation protest Anticipated permanence of the relationship Reciprocity

Patternsof

Attachment

Adult Patterns of Insecure Attachment

3 patterns of insecure attachment

Anxious attachment

Compulsive self-reliance

Compulsive caregiving

Anxious Attachment

Clings to attachment figure and constantly seeks proximity

Such individuals experienced interruptions of care by the primary

attachment figure substitute care that failed to provide one

primary caregiver threats of abandonment

Compulsive Self-reliance

Act as if they do not need others for affection or assistance

Parenting style was one of repeated rejection

Child learns attachment behaviors lead to rejection and are dangerous

Attachment system is deactivated

Compulsively Caregiving

Always place themselves in the nurturing role

Caregiver welcomed being cared for and perhaps expected help in caring for siblings

Allows for proximity to caregiver

Patterns of Insecure Attachment in Children

Insecure-avoidant Insecure-ambivalent Disorganized

Secure

Explore the unfamiliar but frequently return to mothers

Cry when mother leaves the room; greet mother with pleasure upon return

Easily comforted when mother returns

Insecure-Avoidant

Explore new environment without checking on mother’s presence

Appear not to be affected when mother leaves

Avoid looking at or coming close to mother when she returns

Insecure-Ambivalent

Cling to mothers; afraid to explore new environment

Extremely agitated and cry nonstop when mother leaves

Seek contact when mother returns Often arch away from mother and

seem angry Resist all efforts to be soothed

Disorganized

Exhibits a diverse array of conflicted behaviors

Rocking on hands and knees with face averted after an abortive approach

Freezing all movement, arms in the air, with trance-like expression

Moving away from the parent to lean on the wall when frightened

Rising to meet the parent, then falling prone

Adults’ Internal Working Models of Attachment that

Correspond

To Attachment PatternsIn Children

Adult Attachment Interview

Assesses adult’s state of mind in respect to attachment

Postulated to be reflective of the adult’s internal working model of attachment

Parents of Securely Attached Children

Tend to value attachment Tend to value attachment relationships and are able to relationships and are able to discuss experiences in coherent discuss experiences in coherent wayway

Such adults are labeled Such adults are labeled AutonomousAutonomous

Parents of Insecure-Avoidant Children

Tend to have difficult recalling events of childhood

Dismiss childhood events Narratives usually reflect claims of

strength, normalcy, and independence

Lack coherence Classified as “dismissing”

attachment

Parents of Insecure-Ambivalent Children

Tend to produce long, confusing narratives

Narratives reflect mental entanglement or unresolved anger

Difficulty in coherently describing attachment-related experiences

Classified as “preoccupied” with or by early attachments

Parents of Children Judged Disorganized

Significantly more likely than other parents to be classified as “unresolved” with respect to loss or trauma

May have lapses in the monitoring of reasoning or discourse, or reports of extreme reactions during discussion of events

Developmental Pathways Many pathways that lead to mental

health and adaptive functioning Many routes to pathology and

maladaptive outcomes Potential for change continues

throughout the life cycle Optimistic view about human capacity

to respond to the experience of a secure base and the possibility of altering internal working models that have inhibited behavior.

Engagement

Therapists establish themselves as a secure base

Act as trusted companion Therapist is often in a natural

position to become an attachment figure for client

Data Collection/Assessment and Intervention

Central task is to encourage clients to examine ways in which they relate to significant people in their present life

Assumption is people often unconsciously act in ways that contribute to later distress

Data Collection/Assessment and Intervention

Therapists help clients consider how current expectations, perceptions, and feelings are influenced by early experiences with parents or by what significant others told them

Painful process to consider ideas and feelings that were previously “unthinkable”

Emotional problems stem from understandable human responses to what clients actually experienced or were told

Data Collection/Assessment and Intervention

Encourage clients to think about what may have motivated their caregivers to behave as they did

Does not encourage “parent bashing”

Supports increased understanding and working through of the complexity of one’s experiences, thoughts, and feelings

Data Collection/Assessment and Intervention

Therapist’s goal is to help clients recognize where their internal models (cognitive and affective) are not appropriate to the present or the future

Clients need to be encouraged to let go of the old and formerly unconscious perceptions and expectations.

Clients need to think, feel, and act in new ways based on models compatible with their current life

ReferenceReference

Stalker, C.A. (2001). Attachment theory. In Lehmann, P. & Coady, N. (Eds.). Theoretical perspectives for direct social work practice: A generalist-eclectic approach. New York: Springer Publishing Company.