2015-07-08

Dene Attachment
John Bowlby
Stages of Attachment
Theories of Attachment
Leora Fisher

Types of Attachment
Maternal Deprivation
Interruption of Attachment
Adoption / Foster
RAD

Attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond

that connects one person to another across time and

space (Ainsworth, 1973; Bowlby, 1969).
Attachment does not have to be reciprocal. One
person may have an attachment with an individual
which is not shared. Attachment is characterized by
specic behaviors in children, such as seeking
proximity with the attachment gure when upset or
threatened (Bowlby, 1969).

1) Learning/Behaviorist Theory of Attachment

( Dollard & Miller, 1950)

2) Evolutionary Theory of Attachment
(Bowlby, Harlow, Lorenz)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=_O60TYAIgC4#t=87

The long term consequences of maternal deprivation

might include the following:

delinquency,
reduced intelligence,
increased aggression,
depression,
aectionless psychopathy
Aectionless psychopathy is an inability show aection or

concern for others. Such individuals act on impulse with

little regard for the consequences of their actions. For
example, showing no guilt for antisocial behavior.

Separation from parents through foster care moves.

Adoption after attachment to another parent gure

has occurred

Prenatal expose to drugs and alcohol

Traumas like sexual abuse, physical abuse, and

domestic violence

Major depression or schizophrenia of parent gure

Orphanage care
Hospitalization of parent or child
Neglect

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Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) is described in

clinical literature as a severe and relatively uncommon

disorder that can aect children.[ RAD is characterized by
markedly disturbed and developmentally inappropriate
ways of relating socially in most contexts.

Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) is usually the result

of a disruption of or trauma to the attachment process

such as a history of physical or sexual abuse, neglect and/
or frequent change in caregivers within the rst three
years of a child's life. Sometimes other factors can
contribute to the break in attachment as listed in the next
slide.

Family therapy

Lack of eye contact

Indiscriminately aectionate with strangers

Individual psychological counselling

Not aectionate on Parents' terms (not cuddly)

Destructive to self, others and material things (accident prone)
Cruelty to animals

Play therapy
Special education services

Lying about the obvious (crazy lying)

Parental skills classes

Stealing
No impulse controls (frequently acts hyperactive)
Learning Lags
Lack of conscience
Abnormal eating patterns such as hoarding food or gorging on sugary foods
Poor peer relationships
Preoccupation with re
Persistent nonsense questions & chatter
Inappropriately demanding & clingy
Abnormal speech patterns

Based on the DSM IV

Attachment is imperative (0-5)

Those that do not develop attachment with caregiver

are at greater risk for attachment disorders, antisocial

behaviour, criminal activity, conduct disorder, lower
achievement, and problems with social skills
Children that are at great risk of attachment disorder
are children from orphanages, foster homes, adopted
at later ages and children that are abused or neglected

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Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bell, S. M. (1970). Attachment, exploration, and separation: Illustrated by
the behavior of one-year-olds in a strange situation. Child Development, 41, 49-67.

Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1973). The development of infant-mother attachment. In B. Cardwell & H.
Ricciuti (Eds.), Review of child development research (Vol. 3, pp. 1-94) Chicago: University of
Chicago Press.

Bowlby, J., and Robertson, J. (1952). A two-year-old goes to hospital. Proceedings of the

Ainsworth, M. D. S. (1991). Attachments and other aectional bonds across the life cycle. In C .
M. Parkes, J. Stevenson-Hinde, & P. Marris (Eds.), Attachment across the life cycle (pp. 33-51).
London: Routledge.

Horner, D.R. (2000). A practitioner looks at adoption research. Family Relations.

Barth, R.P.; Miller, J.M. (2000). Building eective post-adoption services: what is the empirical
foundation? Family Relations. 49; 447-455.

Bowlby, J. (1958). The nature of the childs tie to his mother. International Journal of
Psychoanalysis, 39, 350-371.

Bowlby J. (1969). Attachment. Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Loss. New York: Basic Books.

Thomas, N. ((2002). What is Attachment Disorder/Reactive Attachment Disorder

Royal Society of Medicine, 46, 425427.

Harlow, H. F. & Zimmermann, R. R. (1958). The development of aective responsiveness

in infant monkeys. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 102,501 -509."

49;473-478.

(RAD)? Retrieved February 15, 2008, from

http://www.attachment.org/pages_what_is_rad.php.

Sears, W., Sears, M. (2001). The Attachment Parenting Book. New York, Little, Brown

and Company.