Attachment

Theory:
An
Overview
 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 pathological
Frustration 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 restructing 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 ones 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 individuals 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 childrens 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
 Patterns
of
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

Secure
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 mothers
presence
Appear not to be affected when
mother leaves
Avoid looking at or coming close
to mother when she returns
 Insecure-Ambivalent
Clingto 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 Patterns
In Children
 Adult Attachment
Interview
Assesses adults state of mind in
respect to attachment
Postulated to be reflective of the
adults internal working model of
attachment
 Parents of Securely
Attached Children

Tend to value attachment

relationships and are able to
discuss experiences in coherent
way

Suchadults are labeled

Autonomous
 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.
 Phases of Helping
Lack of specific guidelines for
therapists who wish to use
attachment theory in practice
Engagement
Data collection/assessment and
intervention
Termination
 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
Encourage clients to examine the
therapist-client relationship and learn
how they have transferred perceptions
and expectations to the current
attachment figure (therapist) from
working models based on experiences
with caregivers
Focus should be on interactions between
therapist and client in the here and now
Discussions of past events and
relationships are necessary only in order
to better understand the present way of
feeling and coping
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 ones experiences,
thoughts, and feelings
Data Collection/Assessment
and Intervention
Therapists 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
 Termination
No specific guidelines for termination
Encourage client to express complete
range of thoughts and feelings about
the ending of the relationship
Skeptical of models that advocate
brief interventions with clients
presenting with pervasive and long-
standing difficulties in interpersonal
relationships
 Strengths
Greatest strength of attachment
theory is the growing empirical
support for its tenets.
Made clearer the relationship
between certain kinds of early
experiences with caregivers
and attachment strategies
commonly seen in adult clients.
Accessibility of attachment theory.
 Limitations
Lackof specific guidelines and
techniques for therapy.
 Reference
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.