Attachment theory

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 99. Chapters: Reactive attachment disorder, Attachment therapy, History of attachment theory, Attachment in adults, Maternal deprivation, Attachment measures, Attachment-based therapy, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, Attachment in children, John Bowlby, Harry Harlow, Human bonding, Mary Ainsworth, Trauma model of mental disorders, Attachment parenting, Age regression in therapy, James Robertson, Interpersonal psychotherapy, Emotionally focused therapy, Limbic regulation, Limbic resonance, Separation anxiety disorder, Michael Rutter, The Interpersonal World of the Infant, René Spitz, Mary Main, Limbic revision, Emotional security, Disinhibited attachment disorder, Motherhood constellation, Affectional bond, Theraplay, Attachment-based psychotherapy. Excerpt: Attachment theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study encompassing the fields of psychological, evolutionary, and ethological theory. Immediately after WWII, homeless and orphaned children presented many difficulties, and psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby was asked by the UN to write a pamphlet on the matter. Later he went on to formulate attachment theory. Infants become attached to adults who are sensitive and responsive in social interactions with them, and who remain as consistent caregivers for some months during the period from about six months to two years of age. When an infant begins to crawl and walk they begin to use attachment figures (familiar people) as a secure base to explore from and return to. Parental responses lead to the development of patterns of attachment; these, in turn, lead to internal working models which will guide the individual's perceptions, emotions, thoughts and expectations in later relationships. Separation anxiety or grief following the loss of an attachment figure is considered to be a normal and adaptive response for an attached infant. These behaviours may have evolved because they increase the probability of survival of the child. Infant behaviour associated with attachment is primarily the seeking of proximity to an attachment figure. To formulate a comprehensive theory of the nature of early attachments, Bowlby explored a range of fields, including evolutionary biology, object relations theory (a branch of psychoanalysis), control systems theory, and the fields of ethology and cognitive psychology. After preliminary papers from 1958 onwards, Bowlby published a complete study in 3 volumes Attachment and Loss (1969¿82). Research by developmental psychologist Mary Ainsworth in