Attachment Theory

Can early unstable fixing doom the baby to abnormal psychology in aft(prenominal)ward life? Shaffer, (1993) defines extension as a keep mum delirious birth mingled with ii raft two persons, shellised by mutual affection and desire to maintain law of proximity. According to Browby, (1969) chemical bond behaviours be formed in infancy and help shape the bond paper relationships people puddle as adults. Psychopathology refers to study of mental illness or mental health distress or the presentment of behaviours and experiences that may be indicative of mental illness or psychological impairment (Allen, 1999).This essay ordain analyse how early insecure attachment doom the tike to psychopathology in later life. The military rating pass on show how attachment risk is a major contributor to mental trouble oneselfs, and an amelioration of psychopathology. The critics of attachment will be analysed fol minusculeed by a concise conclusion According to Bowlby, (1969 ) attachment begins in infancy and lasts throughout a lifetime. A newborn baby immediately needs virtuallyone to take bursting charge of and Takahashi, (1999) both believed that this primary cargongiver usually the mother, is the one that will approximately shape the childs constitution and character within minutes of giving birth.It is important for the new parents and baby to be alone together righteousness after the birth to establish an attachment bond. Elliot, (2003) assets that if there are too many individuals in the room right after birth, the natural process of attachment can be disrupted and this can render long-term effects on the relationship between the child and parents. Fathers, according Fraley, (2003) are expected in any case to establish a bond after the child is born. Researches reveal that fathers who have early contact with their child have a stronger bond with them in the months following the birth.Takahashi, (1999) commends that strong attachment bet ween father and child is shown through physical contact. Fathers have a much physical relationship with the child age the mothers relationship is much than verbal Takahashi, (1999). When the mother- sister fundamental actions are observed, the mother is seen as nurturing and affectionate towards the infant, whereas father-infant interactions deal more with affiliation and black market (Geiger, 1996). It has been shown that the fathers play interactions are more exciting and pleasurable to children than lay interactions with the mother (Geiger, 1996). Research reveals that parent-child bonds are near important in forming the childs personality (Allen, 1999). Insecure attachment doom the child to psychopathology in later life Bowlby, (1969) assets that pitying beings are born with an innate psychobiological system that motivates them to seek proximity to significant others in times of need. Bowlby, (1969) asserts that interactions with attachment figures promote a stable sens e of attachment security and build supportive mental representations of self and others.When a persons attachment figures is non reliably available and supportive, proximity seeking fails to relieve distress, felt security is undermined, negative sets of self and others are formed, and the likelihood of later emotional problems and maladjustment augments (Harris, 1998).. Problems in emotional regulation, like relationship disturbances, are pervasive markers of psychopathology and such problems underlie close to disorders of children and adults (Cole, 1994). Indeed, emotional disturbance often is used as a synonym for psychopathology.Emotional regulation is the defining attribute of all close relationships and the central goal of early primary relationships (Sroufe, 1997). Anxious attachments do not causation later disorders rather they initiate pathways for psychopathology. Psychopathology always is the result of the combination of lay on the line and protective concomitan tors impacting on the individuals life over time (Schofield, 1999). Individual disturbance, in this view, begins as relationships are hypothesized to be the forerunners of many major childishness disorders and adult personality disorders as well.Relationship disturbances often precede the manifestation of individual pathology (Klaus, 1995). Moreover, relationship switch has been shown to precede change and to influence the effect of other variables on psychopathology (Geiger, 1996) and this directly lead to a diseased outcome in a linear manner, yet it is certain that relationship experiences often are a crucial and waning of pathology. Research have established two basic dimensions of parenting as risk factors for psychopathology (1) harsh treatment (hostility, criticality, ejection) and (2) lack of clear, firm discipline or supervision (Weiss, 1982). These factors together, and in interaction with other variables, are often especially predictive and at times capable of different iating various pathological outcomes. Countless studies supported the view that child rejection, lack of support, and hostility are consistently link to picture (Klaus, 1995). Klaus, (1995) establish that parental rejection and power assertive discipline predicted delinquent behaviour.Field, (1996) reported that aggressive treatment of children and low parental warmth predicted childhood depression (Elliot, 2003). Child misuse according to (Lynch, 1995) confirms that parental hostility and asperity is cerebrated with conduct problems, disruptive behaviours disorders, attention problems, anxiety disorders (including PTSD and mood disorders. A study effectuate that erect that 9096 of children with an observed invoice of childhood maltreatment showed at least one diagnosable disorder at age 17% years, compared to 3096 of the poverty control subjects who were not maltreated.Divorce, parental disharmony, and family violence all have been consistently associated with child behavi oural and emotional problems (Brendgen, 2001). Such conditions are overlapping and numerous studies have shown children of divorce to have more problems than those in intact families (Harris, 1998). It is the case that behaviour problems often precede the divorce (Fraley, 2003) and that parental conflict is consistently found to be a stronger predictor of child maladjustment than marital status.Family violence has excessively been found to be associated with child pathology and numerous studies have documented a relation between a history of chum rejection and later maladjustment, both externalizing and internalizing problems (Pickover, 2002). Research has confirmed that infants with histories of secure attachment with their primary caregivers later are characterized by more effective self-regulation (Sroufe, 1997). Moreover, those with different kinds of anxious attachment histories behave in distinctive ways are unable to sustain interactions with peers, are disconnected from ot her children and/or how antipathy for them (Trowell, 1982). Those with anxious attachment histories have problems of one kind or another. Anxiety disorders are associated with histories of anxious attachment (Seiffge-Krenke, 1993) Aggression, and conduct disturbances have been found to be related to anxious/avoidant attachment Both resistant and avoidant attachment appear to be related to depression various aspects of emotional and cognitive experience (Klaus, 1995).When dealing with parental loss, one logical connector with psychoanalytic theory is disruption of parent-child bonds or dysfunctional relationships would lead to future impairments in the individuals capacity to germinate relationships (Takahashi, 1999). Insecure attachment systems have been linked to psychiatrical disorders, to which a child is especially susceptible after the loss of an attachment figure (Fraley, 2003).Children with insecure attachment patterns develop the inability to form secure attachments and reply in a hostile, rejecting manner with their environment (Field, 1996). Severe attachment disorders cause the child to get close to an attachment figure, and then pull away before they can be rejected or they nurse themselves unworthy in the eyes of the attachment figure (Field, 1996). Children with secure attachment patterns are capable of forming new attachment relationships while maintaining their current relationship with their parents (Weiss, 1982).Insecure children focus all of the attention on achieving a reveal relationship with their parents, therefore making it difficult to form new attachment relationships (Weiss, 1982). According to attachment theory, interactions with inconsistent, unreliable, or insensitive attachment figures interfere with the development of a secure, stable mental foundation reduce resilience in coping with stressful life events and predispose a person to break down psychologically in times of crisis (Geiger, 1996). shackle insecurity can theref ore be viewed as a general exposure to mental disorders, with the particular symptomatology depending on genetic, developmental, and environmental factors (Elliot, 2003). Brendgen, (2001) reviewed hundreds of cross-sectional, longitudinal, and prospective studies of both clinical and non-clinical samples and found that attachment insecurity was common among people with a wide variety of mental disorders, ranging from mild distress to severe personality disorders and even schizophrenia.Consistently results reveal that attachment insecurities of both the anxious and avoidant varieties are associated with depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, eating disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) (Brendgen, 2001). adjunct insecurity is also a key feature of many personality disorders however the specific kind of attachment insecurity differs across disorders (Trowell, 1982). Anxious attachment is associated with dependent, histrionic, and borderline disorders, wher eas avoidant attachment is associated with schizoid and avoidant disorders (Trowell, 1982).Seiffge-Krenke, (1993) found that attachment anxiety is associated with emotional dysregulation a component of personality disorders, which includes identity confusion, anxiety, emotional liability, cognitive distortions, submissiveness, oppositionality, self-harm, narcissism, and suspiciousness. Seiffge-Krenke, (1993) also found that avoidant attachment is associated with inhibitedness component of personality problems, including restricted expression of emotions, problems with intimacy, and social avoidance.Another related issue concerning the associations between attachment insecurities and psychopathology is the extent to which attachment insecurities are a sufficient cause of mental disorders, such separation anxiety and pathological grief, in which attachment injuries are the main causes and themes, attachment insecurities are flimsy to be sufficient causes of mental disorders. Other fa ctors e. g. genetically determined temperament intelligence life history and abuse converge to amplify the effects of attachment experiences on the way to psychopathology (Field, 1996).Many studies of large-scale fraternity samples have found no association between avoidant attachment and self-report measures of global distress, however, studies that focus on super stressful events, such as exposure to missile attacks, living in a dangerous neighborhood, or giving birth to a handicapped infant, have indicated that avoidance is related to greater distress and poorer long-term adjustment (Allen, 1999). It has been noted that the association between attachment insecurity and depression is higher among adults with a childhood history of physical, psychological, or sexual abuse.People exposed to stressful life events poverty, physical health problems, and involvement in turbulent romantic relationships during adolescence also strengthen the link between attachment insecurity and psych opathology (Harris, 1998). Attachment insecurities seem to contribute nonspecifically too many kinds of psychopathology (Trowell, 1982) however particular forms of attachment insecurity seem to predispose a person to particular configurations of mental disorders.The attachment-psychopathology link is moderated by a large array of biological, psychological, and socio-cultural factors, and mental disorders and may erode a persons sense of attachment security. If attachment insecurities are risk factors for psychopathology, then the creation, maintenance, or restoration of a sense of attachment security should increase resilience and improve mental health. According to attachment theory, interactions with available and supportive attachment figures impart a sense of safety, trigger positive emotions and provide psychological resources for dealing with problems and adversities (Trowell, 1982).Takahashi, (1999) believed that parents should not be totally held amenable for the way their child develops. They should be held responsible to a point, because after all, they did give them their genes and they do have some influence. Children rely more on their social group in the shaping of their personality and development of psychopathology Also, Field (1996) argue that the mother is not always the primary attachment figure, so it cannot be fictitious that she always will be.The causal links between attachment and psychopathology are also complicate and research findings show that psychological problems can increase attachment insecurity (Pickover, 2002). There is also prelude evidence that a sense of security provided by a psychotherapist improves a clients mental health. Pickover, (2002) found that a clients positive appraisals of his or her therapists sensitivity and supportiveness predicted relief from depression and maintenance of therapeutic bene mates.According to attachment theory and research, lack of parental sensitivity and responsiveness contributes to d isorders of the self, characterized by lack of self-cohesion, doubts about ones internal coherence and continuity over time, cranky self-esteem, and over-dependence on other peoples approval (Allen, 1999). Insecure people are likely to be overly self-critical, plagued by self-doubts, or prone to using defenses, such as destructive perfectionism, to counter feelings of clumsiness and hopelessness (Allen, 1999). According to attachment heory, recurrent failures to obtain support from attachment figure interfere with learning of social skills and create serious problems in interpersonal relations (Field, 1996). Fraley, (2003) using an assessment device account of Interpersonal Problems found that attachment anxiety was associated with more interpersonal problems in general and avoidant people by and large had problems with nurturance and anxious people had problems with emotionality. According to Harris (1998) parents do not shape their childs personality or character.A childs pee rs have more influence on them than their parents e. g take children whose parents were immigrants, a child can continue to speak their parents aborigine language at home, but can also learn their new language and speak it without an accent, while the parents accent remains. Children learn these things from their peers because they want to fit in (Harris, 1998). If a child is brought up in a crime-ridden area, they will be predisposed to committing these same kinds of crimes (Klaus, 1995) because of the high rate of peer mechanical press and because they want to fit in to the group.Even if the parents try to bring up their children the best way possible, chances are that if they associate with delinquents, they will become ones, but if you take a child headed down the wrong path and range him to new environment, chances are he will get himself on the right track, because he is trying to fit in with a new peer group (Harris, 1998). Children will not use everything that they learne d from their parents. In some social settings, these lessons may not be correct or embarrassing to use.Children learn how to behave, for the most part, from other people in their social group. Adults do the same they act more like people in their social groups rather than their parents. Children from the same parents reared in the same home are no more alike than if they were raised in separate homes. Even if parents try to raise two children the same way, they will still behave differently from each other (Harris, 1998). The model attachment is based on carriages that befall during momentary separations (stressful situations) rather than during no stressful situations (Elliot, 2003).A broader understanding of attachment requires observation of how the mother and infant interact and what they provide for each other during natural, no stressful situations (Field, 1996). How children and mothers interact together and not stressed shows more of how the attachment model works than how the child acts when the mother leaves and then returns. Behaviours directed towards the attachment figure during departing and reunion times cannot be the only factor used when defining attachment (Elliot, 2003).Another problem with the attachment model is that the list of attachment behaviours are constricted to those that occur with the primary attachment figure, other attachments are not necessarily characterized by those same behaviours (Field, 1996). Children have attachments to other people other than their mothers, but they do not show this attachment the same way (Geiger, 1996). The mother is viewed as the primary attachment figure, when in fact a father or sibling can have the same type of attachment with the infant at the same time.This relates to adults having more than one principal attachment, such as to their spouse and child (Trowell, 1982). Attachment insecurities are associated with a wide variety of mental disorders, ranging from mild negative affectivity to seve re, disorganizing, and paralyzing personality disorders. Evidence suggests that insecure attachment orientations are fairly general pathogenic states. Although many of the research findings supporting these ideas are co-relational, several(prenominal) studies show a prospective connection between attachments References Allen, J. (1999). Attachment in adolescence. In J. Cassidy & P.Shaver (Eds. ), Handbook of attachment (pp. 319-335). newly York Guilford. Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and loss Attachment (Vol. 1). New York Basic. Brendgen, M. (2001). The quality of adolescents friendships Associations with mothers interpersonal relationships, attachments to parents and friends, and prosocial behaviors. diary of Adolescence, 24, 429-445. Elliot, A. J. (2003). Attachment and geographic expedition in adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 317-331. Field, T. (1996). Attachment and separation in young children. Annual brushup of Psychology, 47, 541-562. Fraley, R . C. 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