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Clinical Counsellor since 1996Member IACPMasters in Educational Guidance and Counselling from Trinity CollegeMasters Dissertation on Attachment Theory . 2. Sheila Hayes. UrsulaMay have harsh unmodulated voice timbres, at variance with an imploring or pleading look in their eyes. Beneath a self
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1. An Introduction to Adult Attachment Presented to the Child Development Initiative
By Sheila Hayes
Mar 31 2011 1
2. Clinical Counsellor since 1996
Member IACP
Masters in Educational Guidance and Counselling from Trinity College
Masters Dissertation on Attachment Theory 2 Sheila Hayes
3. Ursula
May have harsh unmodulated voice timbres, at variance with an imploring or pleading look in their eyes.
Beneath a self – sufficiency is a desire to be looked after.
In essence all container and no feelings
Cliona
The tone of voice is often rambling and monotonous and find it hard to come to the point and to shape their story.
Conversation is an attempt to maintain contact rather than to create dialogue.
Beneath the clinging behaviour is rage and narcissism and a huge fear of losing the secure base.
In essence all feelings and no where to contain them.
Nick
Huge trust issues,
Extremely sensitive
‘Narcissistic’ needs,
Anxiety around rejection, control, ridicule and bullying 3 Do These Personalities Types Sound familiar
4. Review of Infant Attachment
John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
Elements of Attachment Relationships
Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
Couple Love
Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health
Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions 4 Agenda
5. Has always been a key question in Psychoanalysis The Mother Child Relationship 5
6. Developed the Oedipus Complex
Maintained Psychological problems arose as a result of lack of resolution of the Oedipus Complex.
1890s - Freud, 6
7. Mother Child bond arose due to feeding
Kleinian Dependency Theory
Psychological problems arose
Not from lack of resolution of the Oedipus Complex
But from the act of weaning
The Freud / Klein view of the Mother-Child relationship was predominant up to the 1960s
1930s Klein 7
8. Konrad Lorenz
Studied goslings and ducklings who fed themselves
Proposed that a bond could develop without the intermediary of food.
Developed the term Imprinting
Where a duckling or gosling can attach itself to almost anything (such as a Wellington boot)
Received a Nobel prize in 1973 1935 - Ethology and Lorenz 8
9. Review of Infant Attachment
John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
Elements of Attachment Relationships
Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
Couple Love
Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health
Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions Agenda: John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper 9
10. “The Nature of the Child’s Tie to his Mother”
A child’s psychological wellbeing is heavily influenced by its relationship to its Mother and Wider Environment.
To address psychopathologies, these relationship have to be addressed
This paper is the foundation stone of what became attachment theory 1957: Paper Presented to the British Psychoanalytical Society 10
11. It was dominated by the Freud / Klein View
Uproar
Received very critically
He left the society
Was unable to effect change in how children were treated in hospitals due to opposition
11 Reaction from The Psychoanalytic Society
12. Review of Infant Attachment
John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
Elements of Attachment Relationships
Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
Couple Love
Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health
Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources
Questions
References Agenda: Elements of Attachment Theory 12
13. Features of a healthy attachment relationship
Secure Base
Safe Haven
Proximity Maintenance
Separation Distress
See Circle of Security 13 Bowlby’s Attachment Theory
14. Circle of Security 14
15. Bowlby stated that even if there is a long separation between the child and the mother after the bond has been formed, the bond will still be there and be recognisable in the child’s behaviour towards the mother. 15 Attachment relationship formed between 6-8 months.
16. A child has two unconscious working models (or mental maps). They govern
How the child views himself
How he views the world
Development of the working models is determined by the attachment relationship with his primary carer
Models can be
Positive
Negative
Multiple / Conflicting 16 Bowlby and Working Models
17. Bowlby maintained these were at the roof of Psychopathologies.
e.g. I’m afraid Dad will leave and I hope Dad will leave
Bowlby posited that conflicting working models were at the root of intergenerational Transmission of Neurosis. 17 Impact of Conflicting Working Models
18. Review of Infant Attachment
John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
Elements of Attachment Relationships
Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
Couple Love
Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health
Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions 18 Agenda: Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
19. Strange Situation 19
20. Originally conducted in 1968 in Baltimore USA
100 Middle class children
Defined protocol 20 Experiment Details
21. Strange Situation Video 21
22. Identified Attachment styles
One Secure
Two Insecure
One Uncategorised (13%)
Results have been replicated in dozens of studies around the world since 22 Results
23. Review of Infant Attachment
John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
Elements of Attachment Relationships
Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
Couple Love
Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health
Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions 23 Agenda: Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
24. Little known about it or whether attachment existed into adulthood
Adult attachment seen as more complex and difficult to measure
Thinking was that couples had to be studied
Realised that much of adult relationships exist in the mind
In how they think and feel about relationships
A lot of their relationships are invisible to an outsider
24 Interest in adult attachment since the 70’s
25. Follow up longitudinal study in from 1979 to 1985 Berkeley to see the effect that parents had on the Strange Situation
Mary Main believed that earlier experiences do not just shape later behaviours they also shape a person’s beliefs and expectations about relationships
Developed the Adult Attachment Interview protocol
Identified four attachment styles
One secure
Three Insecure
The adult styles were similar to the child styles. 1985: Mary Main & the Adult Attachment Interview 25
26. I'd like you to try to describe your relationship with your parents as a young child if you could start from as far back as you can remember?
Encourage participants to try to begin by remembering very early. Many say they cannot remember early childhood,
but you should shape the questions such that they focus at first around age five or earlier, and gently remind
the research participant from time to time that if possible, you would like her to think back to this age period.
Admittedly, this is leaping right into it, and the participant may stumble. If necessary, indicate in some way that
experiencing some difficulty in initially attempting to respond to this question is natural, but indicate by some
silence that you would nonetheless like the participant to attempt a general description. 26 The AAI Actual Protocol Itself Example: Question 2
27. Now I'd like to ask you to choose five adjectives or words that reflect your relationship with your mother starting from as far back as you can remember in early childhood--as early as you can go, but say, age 5 to 12 is fine. I know this may take a bit of time, so go ahead and think for a minute...then I'd like to ask you why you chose them. I'll write each one down as you give them to me. 27 Example: Question 3
28. Did you ever feel rejected as a young child? Of course, looking back on it now, you may realise it wasn't really rejection, but what I'm trying to ask about here is whether you remember ever having being rejected in childhood 28 Example: Question 5
29. AAI assesses a person’s “state of mind with respect to attachment” and not whether a person is “securely attached” to a second person
The narrative is examined for material purposely expressed by the individual and for material the individual is unaware of
e.g., apparent incoherence and inconsistencies of discourse thereby aiming to assess elements of the attachment representation which are not conscious (working models are in the unconscious)
How the narrative is reported is as important as the narrative itself as it reflects the state of mind with respect to attachment( the AAI picks up on how we perceive relationships based on own attachment experience)
The AAI is scored based on
Descriptions of childhood experiences
Language used in the interview
The ability to give an integrated, believable account of experience and their meaning 29 18 Questions in Total
30. Adults assessed via the AAI are not considered securely versus insecurely attached, but rather as being in a secure state of mind with respect to attachment
One person conducts and transcribes
Second person scores based purely on the written transcript. 30 AAI contd.
31. Review of Infant Attachment
John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
Elements of Attachment Relationships
Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
Couple Love
Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health
Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions 31 Agenda: Attachment Styles
32. 32 Adult & Infant Attachment Styles: Secure / Autonomous - Secure
33. 33 Adult & Infant Attachment Styles: Dismissing - Avoidant
34. 34 Adult & Infant Attachment Styles: Preoccupied - Resistant / Ambivalent
35. 35 Adult & Infant Attachment Styles: Unresolved / Disorganised – Disorganised / Disorientated This work classified the third insecure style for children as verbal responses of parents matched the behavioural responses of the children in the unclassified 13%
36. Secure people are able to talk coherently about their earlier experience even though that experience was negative, they have integrated the events with the feelings of that period – have insight and ability to reflect (the main aim of therapy is to help a person get insight to their experience so integration can occur)
Ability to engage in meta cognition or to see one’s situation objectively distinguishes secure from insecure attachment experiences
36 Key finding
37. Review of Infant Attachment
John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
Elements of Attachment Relationships
Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
Couple Love
Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health
Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
37 Agenda: Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
38. The AAI is the only measure which has been used to examine intergenerational transmission of attachment and the relations between adult attachment status, parenting behaviour and child outcome
Investigations of parental attachment classification and infant Strange Situation find 80% correspondence
Parent – child studies in infancy: comparison of kibbutz – reared infants who slept at home with their parents, and those who slept communally found 76% correspondence between maternal AAI and child Strange Situation for the home based dyads versus 40% for communal dyads
(Sagi, Aviezer et al., 1992)
Parent – child studies at school age: Mothers classified as secure were warmer, more supportive, and smoother in transitioning between activities than insecure mothers. Mothers classified as dismissing were more abrupt in transitioning between activities than preoccupied mothers. Observed child behaviour did not differ with respect to maternal classification. However, ratings of behaviour and affective symptoms by parents, teachers and the children revealed children of dismissing mothers had the highest levels of pathology.
(Crowell, O’ Connor, Wollmers, Sprafkin, & Rao, 1991)
38 Studies on the Transmission Of Attachment Style
39. Parental security of attachment was associated with parents providing structure during the tasks
Secure fathers were warmer towards their preschoolers
(Cohn, Cowan, Cowan, & Pearson, 1992a)
Couples’ concordance for AAI and parenting style was also examined: insecure women married to insecure men were not as warm with their children as insecure women married to secure men. There was no difference between secure and insecure mothers who were married to secure men.
Spousal support may be helpful to ‘insecure’ mothers in interactions with their children. 39 Studies on Transmission Of Styles Contd.
40. Review of Infant Attachment
John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
Elements of Attachment Relationships
Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
Couple Love
Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health
Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
40 Agenda Couple Love
41. In 1987 Hazen & Shaver produced a seminal study on romantic love
Pair - bond /romantic relationships assume the role of attachment figures in adult life where the partner becomes the secure base
There are four defining features of attachment bonds: proximity maintenance, separation distress, safe haven and secure base
Attachment in early life is asymmetrical - infants seek and derive security from care givers but do not give it in return, in pair bonds the care giving is reciprocal 41 Romantic Relationships
42. Striking similarities in the physical intimacy and prolonged face to face contact between infant and caregiver and in adult romantic partners
In almost every culture these intimate interpersonal exchanges are limited to parent – infant and pair bond relationships
(Eibl – Eibesfeld, 1975).
42 Physical Contact in Pair bonds
43. Bowlby noticed that separated children who were well cared for physically, showed striking similarities in how they responded to separation
There was a universal pattern of behaviour which he referred to as the “protest-despair-detachment” sequence
The same sequence of events can be seen in adults grieving for the loss of a spouse (including relationship breakups):
Initial anxiety and panic, followed by lethargy and depression and eventually by recovery through emotional detachment
(Hazen & Shaver, 1992; Parkes & Weiss, 1983; Weiss, 1975)
The loss is integrated in the inner world of the bereaved
Couples grieving for the loss of a child inevitably cannot provide a secure base for the other as each are overcome with grief.
This is one reason why divorce rates are so high after such a tragedy
(Holmes, J., 2001)
43 Separation and Loss in Pair bonds
44. Secure men engage in more positive and supportive interactions with their spouses than do insecure men
(Cohn, Cowan, Cowan, & Pearson, 1992b; Ewing & Pratt, 1995; Kobak & Hazen, 1992).
Secure college females in a stressful situation sought and accepted more physical and emotional support from their partners than insecure women
(Simpson, Rholes, and Nelligan (1992)
Perhaps because secure men are disproportionately likely to be partners of secure women
(van Ijzendoorn & Bakermans – Kranenburg, 1996)
Secure men are more likely to be concerned for their partners’ well being and to provide more emotional support then insecure men 44 Interactions in Romantic Couples
45. Where both partners were insecure there was more conflict
(Cohn et al. 1992b)
Lower levels of conflict and mutually focussed strategies for managing conflict are found in secure individuals
(Pistole, 1989)
Security in the relationship sets the stage for the development of a mutually rewarding relationships as each partner can venture out from the relationship and return back to the safe haven 45 Interactions in Romantic Couples
46. Working Models affect romantic relationships in the following way:
Individuals tend to select environments that fit their beliefs about self and others
e.g. A Preoccupied (Resistant or Ambivalent in infants) female and a Dismissing (Avoidant in infants) male are quite stable although not very happy.
The clingy anxious behaviour of the Preoccupied female confirms the Dismissing male’s belief that it is unwise to let others get too close,
The Dismissing male confirms the Preoccupied female’s belief that others are less concerned about love relationships than she is.
46 Influence of Relationship Experience on choice of partner
47. Review of Infant Attachment
John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
Elements of Attachment Relationships
Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
Couple Love
Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health
Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
47 Agenda: Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health
48. Secure
People can draw on support from another person(s) via the secure base and talk coherently about the issue
Insecure - Dismissing (Avoidant in infants)
People will stay near to a protective one, but not too near for fear of rejection or aggression
Intimacy is sacrificed in order that the affect is deactivated
Insecure - Preoccupied (Resistant or Ambivalent in infants)
People have been subjected to inconsistent responses when distressed and so cling to the care-giver even when no danger is present
There is hyper activation of responses and exploration and autonomy are jettisoned in return for security
Insecure - Unresolved / Disorganised (Disorganised / Disoriented in infants)
Unresolved attachments have no coherent response for self protection
Resort to defensive methods such as splitting, dissociation, role reversal and excessive controllingness
Most patients with severe personality disorder show insecure patterns of attachment in the AAI
(J Holmes, 2001)
48 Dealing with Negative Affect
49. Securely attached individuals can deal with negative affect
Insecure - Dismissing (Avoidant in infants)
In the Dismissing, self esteem is short- circuited within the self.
External validation has little impact,
Will do his best to be in control and to keep intimacy at bay as it threatens his self containing system of maintaining self-esteem
Insecure - Preoccupied (Resistant or Ambivalent in infants)
The Preoccupied depend on the proximity and the positive regard of the clung to figure, if they are critical or lost the Preoccupied will suffer
Insecure - Unresolved / Disorganised (Disorganised / Disoriented in infants)
The Unresolved will try to control the care – giver
In the case of a couple who are both securely attached, this leads to the development of a ‘third element’ which provides far greater security than each member of the couple can achieve on their own
This is the relationship itself and the pattern of mutual expectations that it implies 49 Self-esteem in adult attachment
50. Review of Infant Attachment
John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
Elements of Attachment Relationships
Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
Couple Love
Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health
Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
50 Agenda: Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
51. Freud’s (1912) ‘fundamental rule’
Say what ever comes into your mind however impolite, irrelevant or embarrassing’
‘if I could do that I wouldn’t need to be here in the first place’.
51 Freud’s Rule
52. Previous Statement summarises the mutual incompatibility of insecurity and exploration
If some one is very insecure, they cannot examine their insecurities
The aim of Attachment informed psychotherapy is to assist a client feel secure enough so that they can begin to explore
Themselves
Their life experiences and
Their feelings – especially negative ones. 52 Adult Attachment and therapy
53. The aim of attachment – based therapy is to help bring a client into a balanced position with regard to themselves and the world
Clients seeking therapy fluctuate between the fear of aloneness and at the same time the terror of intimacy
The therapist becomes the secure base providing security, consistency, reliability, responsiveness, warmth and firm boundaries
It is hoped that through this environment the client can begin to trust and explore their relationships
The client can internalise this ‘secure base’ and draw on it as a source of support after therapy 53 Attachment Theory In the Counselling Room
54. Ursula: Insecure – Dismissing (Avoidant in infants)
May have harsh unmodulated voice timbres, at variance with an imploring or pleading look in their eyes.
Beneath a self – sufficiency is a desire to be looked after.
In essence all container and no feelings
Cliona: insecure – Preoccupied (Resistant or Ambivalent in infants)
The tone of voice is often rambling and monotonous and find it hard to come to the point and to shape their story.
Conversation is an attempt to maintain contact rather than to create dialogue.
Beneath the clinging behaviour is rage and a huge fear of losing the secure base.
In essence all feelings and no where to contain them.
Nick: Insecure – Unresolved / Disorganised (Disorganised / Disoriented in infants)
Huge trust issues,
Extremely sensitive
‘Narcissistic’ defenses
Anxiety around rejection, control, ridicule and bullying 54 Characteristics of attachment styles in the counselling room
55. Insecure – Dismissing (Avoidant in infants)
To provide the space which fosters attunement of feeling for
Insecure – Preoccupied (Resistant or Ambivalent in infants)
To provide the space secure enough to cope with relevant protest and where new meanings and secure narratives can arise
Insecure – Unresolved / Disorganised (Disorganised / Disoriented in infants)
To provide the safe space where emotions can be contained, beliefs challenged, and links made 55 The Objective of Therapy for Different Attachment Styles
56. Review of Infant Attachment
John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
Elements of Attachment Relationships
Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation
Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
Couple Love
Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health
Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
56 Agenda: Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
57. www.attachment.ie
My website
This presentation can be downloaded
Other resources and videos
www.johnbowbly.com
State University of New York at Stonybrook
www.circleofsecurity.org
Background and material on the Circle of Security
Resources 57
58. 58 References Bowlbys Three Books
1969: Attachment,
(Updated 1982)
1972: Separation: Anxiety and Anger
1980: Loss: Sadness and Depression
59. Questions 59