Foundations of Attachment

1. Foundations of Attachment SPACE: the prime directive of therapeutic parenting

2. Workshop Outline • Attachment in the Earliest Moments • Causes of Missed Attachment • The Brian & Trauma • Attachment-related Behaviors

3. The Attachment in the Earliest Moments Baby rests Baby and Parent Play Baby calms, trusts Baby Cries Caring response Eyes, Face, Voice, Touch, & Movement

4. The Attachment in the Earliest Moments Connection Eyes, Face, Voice, Touch, & Movement Break Repair Adapted from Levy & Orlans, 1998

5. The Attachment in the Earliest Moments Baby rests Baby learns to sooth and manage self Baby cries Baby loses trust Parent withdraws or responds with anger Parent does not respond, or responds inconsistently Baby cries louder

6. Causes of Missed Attachment • Circumstantial • Premature birth • Painful or undiagnosed illness or injury • Sudden separation from primary caregiver • Neglect and Abuse • Pre- and post- natal maltreatment • Significantly inadequate or pathological caregiving • Physical, emotional abandonment by caregiver • Multiple placements • Parents’ Attachment History

7. An Active Disorder Through age three, a child experienced neglect and/or abuse. The child changed primary caregiver(s) at least once. The child struggles with relationships. Negative Thinking Bad, unlovable, unsafe, lacking trust Lashing Out Anger to prove how unlovable, expecting rejection Adult Responds Shame Confirmed

8. The Brain • How Memories Form:

9. The Brain • Left Hemisphere • Begins about age 1.5 • Thinks • Explicit Memory Right Hemisphere Begins at Birth Feels Implicit Memory “Frozen Moments”

10. Typical Response to Trauma Natural Chemical Baseline

11. Response to Ongoing Trauma Natural Chemical Baseline

12. The Mind Information Adult Infant Energy

13. Psychosocial Development

14. Attachment-related Behaviors • Self-Regulation • Shrieking • Large reactions to minor events • Head banging • Aggression toward others • Frequently defies rules (oppositional) • Lack of impulse control • Self-destructive behaviors

15. Attachment-related Behaviors • Self-Regulation • Intensely demanding & clingy • Sleep problems • Soiling pants • Destruction of property • Abnormal eating habits • Stealing • Deceitful (lying, conning) • Cruelty to animals

16. Attachment-related Behaviors • Self-Regulation • Extreme difficulty with transitions • Hyperactive • Lethargic • Nonsense “arguments” • Hoarding • Inappropriate sexual conduct & attitudes • Controlling

17. Attachment-related Behaviors • Cognitive Functioning • Learning disorders • Language disorders

18. Attachment-related Behaviors • Affect and Mood • Not affectionate on adults’ terms • Intense displays of anger (rage) • Marked mood changes • Intensely sad, depressed or helpless • Inappropriate emotional responses • Unresponsive and/or resistive to caregiver attempts at soothing

19. Attachment-related Behaviors • Relatedness • Overly friendly with strangers (non-parents) • Fearful of adults • Does not like to be touched • Acts as bully • Bullied by others • Lack of eye contact for closeness • Lack of/unstable peer relationships • Cannot tolerate limits and external control

20. Attachment-related Behaviors • Physical • Poor hygiene • Chronic body tension • Accident prone • High pain tolerance • Overreaction to minor injury • Tactilely defensive

21. Attachment-related Behaviors • Play • Developmentally regressed play • Bizarre play themes • Consistency of anger/violence in play

22. Attachment-related Behaviors