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Attachment Theory

6/17/2015

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Attachment is the emotional bond that develops between a child and another individual and is considered to be the most important aspect of child development beginning at the moment of birth and continuing throughout childhood. 

Early research theorized that attachment or bonding was largely determined by the biological needs of the infant and the caregiver’s ability to provide food and meet other physiological needs. However, psychologist Harry Harlow in the 1950’s conducted a famous experiment in which infant monkeys were given a choice between cuddling with a wire monkey who provided food or with a soft, warm, cloth monkey who did not have food. The overwhelming preference was to hang out with the cloth monkey who provided comfort.

Another psychologist, John Bowlby, had the view that attachment was primarily the child’s need for safety and security and was genetically influenced through the motivation to avoid predators. This took the theory to the epigenetic level in which the reciprocal relationship between the genes and the environment were at play. He also identified that secure attachment to a primary caregiver was critical in allowing the developing child to explore their world.

In the 1960’s and 70’s, Bowlby’s student, Mary Ainsworth, built on his theory through her own research by developing a technique to measure attachment. She created the Ainsworth Strange Situation
which consisted of eight staged episodes involving a mother, a child, and a stranger. The various scenarios included (1) the mother and child entering a room in which (2) the mother sits down to let the child explore (3) an adult stranger enters the room and speaks with the mother and then the child (4) the mother then leaves the room and the child is left with the stranger (5) the mother then returns and greets the stranger and then comforts the child and the stranger leaves (6) the mother then leaves the room again and the child is alone (7) the stranger returns and (8) the mother returns and the stranger leaves.

What was discovered was that the child’s reactions to the various scenarios were quite different depending on the pattern of attachment the child had to the mother.
 Ainsworth identified three different patterns: the secure attached pattern, the avoidant attached pattern, and the ambivalent attached pattern. Later her work was expanded on by a colleague to include a fourth pattern, the disorganized-disoriented attached pattern.

The secure attached pattern was present when the child used the mother as a home base, seemed at ease in the Strange Situation as long as the mother was present, explored independently, may or may not have been upset when she left and immediately went to her when she returned. Children who demonstrated the avoidant attached pattern did not seek out close proximity to the mother, did not seem distressed when she left and avoided her when she returned. With the ambivalent attached pattern, children displayed positive and negative reactions to the mother and were usually in such close proximity to her that they didn’t explore their environment, became anxious before she left, distressed when she did leave and were ambivalent when she returned; seeking to be close but also hitting and kicking her in anger.  The disorganized-disoriented attached pattern is the least securely attached pattern. These children demonstrate inconsistent and contradictory behavior by approaching the mother and avoiding contact with her. This pattern suggests tremendous confusion on the child’s part.

So how has Attachment Theory influenced our understanding of human development during the past forty-five years?

Academically speaking, there are many thoughts in response to this question. Piles and piles of research has accumulated in an attempt to tease apart the various styles of attachment that form in response to the various styles of parenting that are practiced; the perception being that the more we understand this subject the better we can educate prospective parents on the do’s and don’ts of parenting in order to ensure a more securely attached child.

Since attachment is understood to be the basic human need for a child to have a safe and close relationship with a parent or primary caregiver and we know that secure attachment patterns are established when the parent(s) are responsive to the child’s needs; securely attached children end up being curious, independent, ego-resilient and successful in forming healthy relationship patterns which then persist into adulthood.  This is possible because the parents have provided a safe ‘home base’ from which the child is able to leave and explore their environment within a range that is developmentally appropriate. As long as the child has a safe place to come back to, they will feel more confident in their ability to explore their external world and more trusting of the people they meet along the way.

Attachment Theory models found in textbooks continue to identify that 80% of children in the United States are securely attached and yet it is also widely accepted that 90% of adult relationships in the United States are co-dependent. From my perspective the latter is more consistent with what I have experienced and observed in both my personal and professional life and would indicate to me that children who grow up to form adult co-dependent relationships could not have possibly met the criteria for being securely attached to their caregiver(s) as children.

In addition, current statistics indicate that one in four children in this country between the ages of 13 and 18 have now been identified as suffering from an anxiety disorder.  In 1985, half a million children in the United States met the diagnostic criteria for ADHD and today it is estimated that 5 to 7 million children in this country now have this diagnosis. Three and a half million children have met the criteria for a diagnosis of depression and a recent study showed a 600 percent increase in the diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder in children under the age of 13 in the last 10 years.  Most of these children are receiving pharmacological interventions despite the absence of longitudinal studies that have not been funded by pharmaceutical companies excluding long-term, negative consequences on a brain still in its formative stages of development. This increasing need to chemically restrain our youth is a growing trend which is alarming many experts in the field of trauma and child development, including myself, and can, at best, be categorized as a massive social experiment.

It is also a great example of how, far too often, the interventions which are widely endorsed by the institutions within our society are completely incongruent with what we’ve discovered and proven to be true regarding human development. Despite what we know regarding the Secure Attached Pattern
, ‘free-range’ kids have now become a rarity as the collective perception is that it is far too dangerous to let our children wander beyond our range of vision despite the fact that they are at a lower risk of violence since the death rate among young people under the age of 19 has decreased by 65% since I was growing up in the 1970s. These days, parents who encourage their children to explore their world outside of visual range and in a manner that is developmentally appropriate are now at risk of being arrested for child neglect and of having the state remove the children from their custody.

In my opinion, it is the collective perception and subsequent reactivity that has become dangerous. As a society, we have become extremely insecure,
angry, fearful and full of distrust; easily meeting the criteria for a shared PTSD experience and resulting attachment disorder. And since our children our growing up in this environment, they are being strongly imprinted by these distorted and fearful messages, making it far more plausible that 80% of them are securely attached to a screen rather than another individual. 

A large part of the work I facilitate for my clients is to help them  ‘unhook’ from what I refer to as the ‘control drama’ by challenging inaccurate, collective, fear-based perceptions that are negatively influencing their beliefs, perceptions and experiences. Attachment Theory, Epigenetics, Pre and Perinatal Psychology and trauma research help to create a framework for understanding who we are and how we got here as well as provide a map to help guide us through and beyond the madness. The key to being successful in achieving this outcome is by finding the courage to swim against the collective current by choosing to let go of the need to control every aspect of the external world and the people who inhabit it, including our children and loved ones.

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Pre and Perinatal Psychology

6/2/2015

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Pre and perinatal psychology is a branch of psychology that explores the psychological and physiological implications of prenatal and perinatal experiences of the fetus and developing child. Subjects such as the health and well-being of the mother throughout her pregnancy as well as the importance of minimizing birth trauma in combination with secure attachment styles between the child and caregiver are central themes within PPNP. There is growing research which continues to identify that these earliest experiences impact the developing child’s overall health and well-being including their ability to learn and form healthy relationships and that these early imprints continue to influence subconscious programming into adulthood.

This field began to emerge in the early 1900’s when Sigmund Freud’s student, Otto Rank, began to develop the theory that birth trauma was a factor in determining one’s behaviors later in life. His theory was not embraced by the rest of the medical community, including Freud, and the relationship between student and mentor soured. It was not until the ‘60’s and ‘70’s through the work of psychologists John Bowlby and his student Mary Ainsworth in which the importance of secure attachments and the various styles of attachment were identified, did the scientific community begin to accept that early experiences in the womb, during birth, and the first few years of life had significant implications for the individual’s health and well-being throughout life.

The science of Epigenetics in combination with Attachment Theory is a large part of the research and understanding that makes up this particular branch of psychology. One of the ongoing arguments between psychologists since the birth of psychology has been the “Nature vs. Nurture” debate. This has been ongoing in an attempt to identify whether heredity or environmental factors are largely responsible for determining the development of an individual including behaviors, intelligence, and personality. 

In 2001, the first draft of the Human Genome Project was published in the journal “Nature”. The most startling finding was that the number of human genes was 30 percent fewer than previous estimates. When the project started in 1987, it was estimated that there were as many as a 100,000 genes. It was also assumed that human complexity originated from this number; the greater the number of genes, the greater the complexity. So you can only imagine the confusion when only 31,000 protein-encoded genes were discovered. No longer can the argument be made that genetics has the greatest influence on human development.  As stated in the previous article “The Science of Epigenetics”, our DNA may be the blue print of life but it turns out that the environment is what informs our genetic functioning, including our thoughts and feelings in response to our experiences. How a baby develops in utero in response to mom’s stress levels, the degree of trauma experienced at birth and how securely the child is able to attach to his/her primary caregivers in the first few years of life appears to be the most important factors influencing development and future generations.

Early childhood is the most critical stage of development given that the brain, in its earliest stages of development, is still organizing. Perinatal experiences which include breastfeeding, gentle and constant touch, soothing voices, appropriate environmental stimulus and responsiveness to needs not only prevents distress but also ensures that the limbic brain which receives and processes sensations, feelings and emotions is imprinted in such a way that validates our right to exist. If, on the other hand, our early childhood experiences beginning with gestation are less nurturing and more painful; our limbic system begins to imprint this experience as representative of love. This, in turn, sets us up to recreate this experience throughout life informing dysfunctional styles of relationship patterns in an attempt to get our emotional needs met.

Research within the field of PPNP has shown that physical dis-ease expressions and behavioral issues later in life can be traced back to trauma spanning gestation, through birth and into early childhood. The baby’s nervous system will become hard-wired in creating a ‘comfort zone’ around whatever the initial environment offered in the form of stimulus. If it was primarily stressful, painful and frightening, then baby becomes imprinted in the brain and the body to expect this. Consistent with trauma research, he/she will spend the rest of his/her life recreating and attracting into their life these kinds of experiences; ones that are unloving, unkind, stressful, anxiety-provoking and, at times, abusive.

Early childhood trauma, combined with our collective conditioning has created within us an orientation in which we are constantly looking outside of ourselves in an attempt to get our needs met. I believe that when we have an over-reliance on the other to make us feel better about ourselves, we are attempting to compensate for a time in our life in which our basic needs were not met. Our early formative years are the time in which what we take in as loving and nurturing sets us up emotionally and physically for the rest of our lives. If our brains and bodies were not encoded with the fundamental messages that we had the right to exist during the first few years of life because our caregivers were unresponsive to our needs; we will be unconsciously seeking this out and needing constant reassurance within our relationships throughout our entire adult lives.

The good news is this: Now that we are aware of the impact that these early childhood experiences may have had on us we have the ability to change our current experience. No longer do we have to be victimized by what affected us long before we have any memory of even being alive. Just having the understanding that most of what we currently experience in our lives that is undesirable is largely being informed by these imprints is the first step in climbing out from underneath them. Body work such as Somatic Emotional Release Therapy and various modalities within the realm of energy medicine such as Cranial Sacral Therapy are extremely effective in assisting one’s healing process at the earliest and deepest levels of trauma imprinting. More on this subject will be explored in the upcoming article entitled "Energy Medicine".

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    Author

    Kate O'Connell is a licensed Child and Family Therapist with a private practice in Charlottesville, Virginia addressing the therapeutic needs of children, adults, adolescents, couples and families. Her extensive training in Intensive In-Home Services,  Addiction, Family Systems Therapy and Energy Medicine enables her to facilitate positive outcomes for her clients dealing with a variety of emotional and mental health issues.

    



    

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    What is Therapy?
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Copyright 2015 Kate O'Connell, LPC