LECTURE 3 ATTACHMENT AND ‘ HOLDING’

This lecture will introduce some profound concepts about how human beings develop - specifically
within their relationships to early caregivers. The concept of attachment and attachment styles (or
types) will be introduced. It is important to understand the different attachment styles and
characteristics shown in the caregiver/baby in secure versus each of the insecure attachment styles.
How early attachment patterns influence us into adulthood and influence adult relationships will be
addressed in the next lecture.

ATTACHMENT

• Attachment is described as a biological system or powerful survival impulse that evolved

to ensure the survival of the infant. Where a child is threatened or stressed they will seek to
move towards an adult caregiver, who is sought to provide a sense of physical, emotional
and psychological safety for the child.

• Attachment arises between an infant and their caregiver(s) – heavily influenced by the
‘primary caregiver’, usually a parent and most commonly the mother – which not only
influences brain growth, but affects personality development, life-long patterns of relating
and the ability to form stable relationships later in life.

• John Bowlby devoted extensive research to the concept of attachment, describing it as a

"lasting psychological connectedness between human beings". Bowlby believed that
attachment had an evolutionary component: to aid in survival. He suggested that "The
propensity to make strong emotional bonds to particular individuals [is] a basic component
of human nature".

• Humans are not the only creatures who exhibit attachment behaviour, other mammals and
primates also display attachment behaviour.

• Attachment is seen as a primal need, with specific neural networks in the brain thought to be
dedicated to it.

• Attachment between the primary caregiver (mother) and baby does not mean the same as
‘love’. Attachment is a special emotional relationship that involves an exchange of comfort,
care, and pleasure. It is a biologically based, survival orientated connection, formed
between a helpless infant - who is totally dependent on an adult of the same species for care
and survival – and their primary caregiver(s).

• Attachment provides the foundation of trust, affection and self confidence. However,
even if none of those are present,‘attachment’ (needing to feel secure) can still be felt. The
abused child, who clings to, and feels loyal to, an abusing parent is an example.

• When adults select a partner to be in a long-term committed relationship with, they are
engaging in adult attachment behaviour. Adult attachment behaviour recreates transformed
versions of some (but not all) of the dynamics of infant attachment.
• Attachment dynamics are also evident in any longer-term therapeutic relationship. Here
they form the basis of what Freud called transference behaviour – the carrying over into
adult relationships of ‘relationship templates’ laid down in infancy. (Bowlby referred to such
relationship templates as ‘internal working models’).

• Neuroscience research also supports how attachment develops through understandings of

implicit memory, mirror neurons, right-brain to right-brain communication (more on that in
the brain lecture!).

BOWLBY (1950s)

• John Bowlby is considered the central figure in founding attachment theory. Bowlby was a
British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who sought to challenge the Freudian view of
development, claiming it focussed too narrowly on the inner world of the child without
taking into account the relational environment that shapes early stages of human
consciousness.

• Bowlby shaped his thinking by considering how other mammals raise their young: whereas
ground-dwelling animals would run to a ‘place’ for protection when frightened, primates
run to a protective adult, who then carries them to safety. Bowlby concluded humans were
wired like primates to form attachments, because they couldn’t survive without them.

• Bowlby’s observations of young primates who had been weened, showed they still sought
proximity, touch and nurturance from their mothers (over and above survival needs for
food). He proposed infants are attached to their caregivers not because they feed them, but
because caregivers trigger the infants’ inborn disposition to seek closeness with a
protective other.

• Bowlby became interested in the impact of maternal deprivation - what impact did
separation from mother during infancy have on children’s development?

• He undertook studies of 44 juvenile thieves and found over half of them had been separated
from their mothers for longer than 6 months in their first year of life and that 32% of these
were what he termed ‘affectionless psychopaths’ (showing no guilt or remorse). This
suggested an infants separation from mother had had a lasting negative influence on these
children.

• Bowlby undertook studies within residential nurseries, where children were separated from
their mothers and while they were provided with good physical care, had inconstant nurses
attending to them and provided with little adult physical or emotional contact.

1. Bowlby later introduced the idea that through our early relationships we come to develop
‘internal working models’, the patterns of relating and attachment we then carry with us into
our future relationships. He identified Four distinguishing characteristics of Attachment:-
 1. Proximity Maintenance - The desire to be near the people we are attached to.

2. Safe Haven - Returning to the attachment figure for comfort and safety in the face of a fear
or threat.

3. Secure Base - The attachment figure acts as a base of security from which the child can
explore the surrounding environment.

4. Separation Distress - Anxiety that occurs in the absence of the attachment figure.

AINSWORTH (1960s/70s)

• Mary Ainsworth sought to extend findings from Bowlby’s research. Specifically, she
wanted to explore further whether a separation from the child’s mother was harmful or
not; or was it deprivation of “maternal care” that was harmful?

• She undertook extensive observations of babies and caregivers in Uganda.

• Ainsworth observed that new born babies could be born and removed from their mother and
given to an alternate ‘foster mother’ without apparent harm. But she also observed that
during the first year of life changes arose where even brief separations from the
caregiver caused a child considerable distress.

• Ainsworth initially thought attachment related to ‘feeding’, but soon observed the baby is
not a passive recipient creature who becomes attached to his or her mother merely because
she satisfies his needs (to be fed). Attachment was very much a two way thing -
established within the relational interactions between mother and child.

• She started to observe specific attachment behaviours babies engaged in:

• Differential crying - baby stops crying when picked up by mother, but continues to
cry when picked up by another adult.

• Smiling and vocalisations - that specifically arose when baby with mother

• Crying when mother leaves

• Following mother

• Showing concern for mothers whereabouts

• Burying face in mothers lap

• Using mother as a ‘safe haven’ when in a strange situation

• Rushing to mother when frightened

 • Greeting mother through smiling, clapping, holding arms up and general excitement.

• Ainsworth observed that as soon as children started to crawl, they’d make small excursions
away from mother, while always maintaining consciousness of her whereabouts, returning
to her periodically - either physically or by looking an smiling at her. She stated “the
mother seems to provide a SECURE BASE from which these excursions can be made
without anxiety”.

• Ainsworth noted there were differences in some babies’ behaviour. The development of
attachment differed from child to child. She noted parenting differences connected to
these attachment differences.

• In the United States eight years later, Ainsworth continued her research into mother
infant attachment.

• She noted the majority of attachment behaviours between child and caregiver were
similar irrespective of culture - noting some minor differences such as Western babies
would kiss and hug when Ganda babies did not, and Ganda babies used clapping to attract
mother while Western babies did not.

• Ainsworth used what is now termed the STRANGE SITUATION test to help explore
attachment difference between children and their mothers. The strange situation test
involves having mother and baby come into a strange environment (lab) with lots of toys to
invite exploration. A stranger is introduced, while mother remains. Then create a separation
where mother leaves the room while stranger remains. Observing:

• How does baby respond to mother’s departure?

• How does baby respond to mother’s return?

SECURE Insecure - AVOIDANT Insecure - AMBIVALENT

(or RESISTANT)

Baby explores room/toys Plays with toys, but maybe May take longer to explore,
while checks back to less energetic exploration and/or checks back to
mother intermittently and less checking back to mother frequently
mother

Baby cries and/or crawls May cry at mothers Child became extremely
towards door when mother departure, but more readily distressed at separation
leaves engages again in play with from mother
toys during her absence

Upon mothers return, baby Less crying and little Upon mothers return,
cries but actively seeks comfort seeking upon seemed to go two ways at
contact with mother. mothers return. Baby does once:
not look towards mother, - easily sought contact
does not hold arms up with mother
- BUT, also showed angry
resistance towards
 mother, kicking her and
arching back at her
embrace

Baby settles readily when Quick to rengage with toys, Child crying/angry - not
mother offers comfort may show preference for able to derive comfort from
toys over mother. mother.

• This lead Ainsworth to define two categories of attachment, secure and insecure.
With insecure attachment being in two distinct types: avoidant and ambivalent (or also
termed resistant).

Attachment styles

• Different attachment styles form in humans, related to the style of responding and
interaction that takes place between the infant and their caregiver (primarily within the first
year of life).

• The attachment style an infant develops aims to maximise the available care provided by the
caregiver and limit the level of distress of the infant. Infants do not ‘choose’ their attachment
style, and their attachment style is not genetically pre-determined per se, rather it forms
through the dynamic and ongoing patterns of interaction between the infant and caregiver(s).

• Mary Ainsworth (through her research and the strange situation test) established a
classification of attachment styles, identifying these as types ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’.

• Type A – Insecure (or Anxious *) - Avoidant

• Type B – Secure

• Type C – Insecure (or Anxious) - Ambivalent (or Resistent)

(A fourth type D is also defined – being ‘Disorganised’ attachment , and this will be explored in
next week’s lecture) NB.*You will encounter varied terminology when you encounter references to
attachment. This is also true of discussions of adult attachment styles.

Type A - Insecure - Avoidant:

• depend less on their mother as a secure base (less proximity seeking, more independent
exploration)

• sometimes attacked mother with random act of aggression,

• far more demanding and clingy than the secure children in the home environment, while
sometimes openly upset by her departure in strange situation
 • appear as pillars of strength/independence, but cut off from their feelings

• more likely to withdraw on own or use external activities to comfort self, rather than seek
comfort from an attachment figure (over-emphasise independence/exploration and under
emphasises closeness and proximity).

• an avoidant attachment strategy seeks to keep caregiver as ‘close’ as possible to child

while expressing minimal emotional need.

Type B - Secure

• seek out mother/caregiver when distressed

• seem confident of mother’s availability

• readily explore while checking back for mother’s presence and reassurance from time to time

• upset when left by mother

• eagerly greeted mother upon return

• warmly accepted and were readily comforted by mother’s embrace and soothing

• return to exploration once provided with comfort from mother

• comfortable sharing feelings and receiving support when needed, while also able to
explore when safe to do so

• child does not need to focus on the needs of the caregiver

Type C - Insecure -Ambivalent

• most overtly anxious (externally)

• clingy and demanding at home

• high level distress at mother’s departure

• despite wanting closeness to mother when she returns, arched away angrily or went limp in her
embrace so could not be soothed.

• over-empahis on proximity and closeness with attachment figure while underemphasising

exploration.
 • child seeks to keep an inconsistent caregiver available through heightened display of
emotionality and dependence.

Influences of parental care provided to child on attachment style

Ainsworth noted 4 factors of maternal care:

1. How often mother was sensitive to babies signals?

2. How much acceptance of the baby she demonstrated as opposed to rejection?

3. Did mother cooperate with babies rhythms and desires or did she tend to interfere,
imposing her own agenda, pace and schedule with feeding, handling and playing?

• How available to the baby was she compared to how often she ignored it?
As babies become more distressed, Ainsworth found insecure parents become more
anxious, irritated and overwhelmed. Hostile power struggles arise and increased rejecting
behaviour from the caregiver can follow.

• Mothers of secure babies rated consistently higher on four factors above re sensitivity to
baby, acceptance, cooperating with babies rhythms and desires and being available to baby.

• An infant’s temperament will have an influence on how their caregiver may respond to
them (i.e. it is much easier to provide consistent care to a child with an ‘easy’ rather than a
‘difficult’ temperament); however it is the caregiver’s own attachment style that has the
most significant influence on the attachment style of the infant.

• Similarly, a counsellor may find it easier to respond more consistently and empathically to
an ‘easy’ client than a more ‘difficult’ client. (Although what a counsellor deems to be ‘easy’
may be affected by both their own temperament and attachment style!) However, part of the
job of the therapist is to make an attempt to adjust his or her own behaviour so as to offer
both emotional security and a reparative role (‘corrective emotional experience’) for the
client. This requires more than merely responding to the ‘surface level’ behaviour of the
client.
• What are referred to as ‘skills of holding’ in this course are ways of providing a fair
level of emotional security for most clients (not necessarily for all), without responding
overtly to some client’s invitations to engage in problematic or dysfunctional interactions.
Other, more directive interventions may be required by certain types of ‘difficult’ clients.
(These interventions may well feel like ‘holding’ for these clients when their internal worlds
are particularly chaotic.)

HC/PG/AW 2023