AAI Case Summary

Preoccupied / Ambivalent Attachment occurs because parents are inconsistently available to the child. This can result in a high degree of attachment – seeking behavior, mixed with angry feelings. As an adult, people tend to become clingy and demanding toward their partner. Instead of feeling real love or trust toward their partner they look to their partner for a sense of safety and security by clinging to their partner. They often feel unsure of their partner 's feelings and unsafe in their relationship.

The preoccupied attachment style is characterized by low fear of closeness and high fear of abandonment. Individuals classified as preoccupied have a negative model of themselves. Because preoccupies see themselves as unworthy of love and unsupportive, they tend to “strive for self-acceptance by gaining the acceptance of valued others” (Bartholomew, 227) and would do everything to keep people in their life; Preoccupied individuals try to avoid any kind of conflict in order to make themselves loveable and others happy. Despite the fact that preoccupies often see others as trustworthy and available, they also feel that others do not care about them as much as they care about others.

Attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space (Bowlby, 1969). Likewise, attachment theory is a psychological model that seeks to illustrate the dynamics of both long term and short- term interpersonal relationships (Waters, E.; Corcoran, D.; Anafarta, M. 2005). Additionally, attachment theory address how people respond within relationships when hurt, separated from loved ones, or when they perceive a threat (Waters et al., 2005). Attachment theory is the combined work of John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth (Bretherton, I. 1992, p. 1). The theory predominantly draws on the ideas from doctrines such as, ethology, cybernetics, information processing and developmental psychology (Bretherton, I. 1992, p. 1). It is considered that attachment theory has revolutionized the way society thinks about the relationship between the mother and her child and the importance of

John Bowlby, the backbone of attachment theories will be discussed throughout this essay to explain and evaluate the key theories of attachment. Health and well-being which is made up of four factors ‘physical, intellectual, emotional and social ' (Jones, 2016), will also be discussed within the essay. The definition of attachment is ‘an act of attaching or the state of being attached. ' (Dictionary, 1400) This will be showed in the assignment, using theorists to analyse the meaning. Sharing the strengths and weaknesses in some theorists will help conclude this assignment.

The insecure/preoccupied anxious attachment style preoccupied, and they seek approval from their partners. They tend to extremely clingy; consequently, pushing the person away with their self-doubts and insecurities. Individuals who have fearful/avoidant attachment style tend to have suffered abuse or sexual abuse, and they want close relationships, nonetheless they cannot bring themselves to be intimate with other people.

What is attachment theory and why is it an important aspect of intimate relationships and love? The attachment theory of love maintains that the degree and quality of attachments one experiences in early life influence one’s later relationships (Strong & Cohen, 2014). John Bowlby proposed that, based on infants interactions with caregivers, infants construct expectations about relationships in the form of internal working models- cognitive representations of themselves and other people that guide their processing of social information and behavior in relationships (Sigelman & Rider, 2015). This research was further elaborated on by Mary Ainsworth and colleagues, who believed there were three styles of infant attachment: secure, anxious or ambivalent, and avoidant.

The overall aim of this piece of work, is to describe and evaluate attachment theory and its value, it can have in the social work profession .One way I will do this is by finding a socially accepted definition of attachment theory and the academic 's who have defined the process and its effect within social work. Firstly we need to know what exactly what attachment theory actually is. I belief this can be described as being a set of theories derived from academic 's who feel attachment has a psychological normality for searching an individuals closeness to another person in there life, and there effect to promote security when that person is with them and the anxiety when they have gone. There are many theorist 's in the field of attachment and it is my intention to focus on three such Theorist’s, John Bowlby, Mary Ainsworth to whom both have worked closely in this area and are recognised in some forums and being the “guru 's in the field of attachment, and David Howe, Professor of Social Work at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. Having a knowledge base of these theories as a social worker will enable and empower us when making decisions and the way in which we present ourselves,” Looking at both sides of the coin” and when and when not to intervene when assessing the need of the child and adult.

Attachment theory was originally proposed by Bowlby (1969) as an explanation of interpersonal relationships, with particular focus in his work on the parent-child relationships which are formed in early childhood. He noted that this was an evolutionary need within us as humans to form close attachments to improve our rate of survival (Bowlby, 1969). He later also theorized that these attachment styles would persist throughout life into adulthood (Bowlby, 1988). Further work on attachment theory by Bartholomew & Horowitz (1991) expanded on attachment styles and looked at the continuation of attachment style into adulthood. Using interviews with participants and the participants close friends they found evidence for four types of adult attachment styles: Secure, Preoccupied, Dismissing and Fearful (Bartholomew & Horowitz 1991). Further support for adult attachments styles is from Mikulincer & Shaver (2004) showing that attachments styles persist from childhood into adulthood demonstrating bowlby 's later hypothesis

Fraley (2002) completed a meta analysis of studies concerning attachment in order to investigate the level of attachment pattern’s continuity throughout life. The study indicated that there was a certain stability of the attachment pattern, and that the stability is independent of time. Even though it is theorized that a secure pattern will be likely to stay unchanged, it is still indicated that experiences such as bad relationships will be able to change the attachment pattern (Fraley,

Three predominant styles of attachment, secure, insecure-anxious and insecure-avoidant reflect expectations about the reliability and availability of attachment figures (Hazan & Shaver, 1987). Individuals who portray secure attachment styles tend to value relationships that provide trust, comfort, and availability. In contrast, individuals with insecure-avoidant or insecure-anxious styles of attachment have difficulty recognizing, acknowledging, and/or valuing secure-based relationships. Avoidant individuals experience discomfort when becoming close with others. In contrast, insecure-anxious individuals report relationships as a threat,

The most intense aspect of the avoidant attachment style would be leading into disorganized, which is characterized by behaviors that do not make sense. This often is manifested in unpredictable, confusing, or erratic behaviors. Researchers have found that this is due to the fact that individuals with a disorganized attachment often can’t make sense of their experiences, and not able to form a coherent narrative of what is going on around them. For those that suffered abuse, they may offer strange explanations about their abusive experiences.

Investigators conducted a series of experiments to investigate the relationship between insecure attachment styles, and depression. Several factors are correlated with depression and dependency which states that “thoughts, emotions, and behavioral characteristics related to the need to communicate with and depend on others (Hirschfeld et al., 1977). The role attachment style and depression are investigated and it is hypothesized that insecure attachments strongly correlate with depression rather than securely attached individuals which do not.

An individual’s attachment style is conceived as a personality trait which is stable across the individual’s life span. Attachment is seen as a categorical model where individuals are either securely, avoidant or anxiously attached to others. Several studies have indicated how individuals treat attachment-related thoughts is related to their attachment style and governs how they cope with and express the loss of a loved one. When compared with secure and anxious attached adults, avoidant attachment style adults are less concerned with attachment to others. Anxious attachment style adults are worried about loss and will be hyper vigilant to relationship distress.

An infant with a secure attachment style has a natural bond with their parent, where they are able to trust them, at the same time leaving their side to discover and explore their surroundings. In an insecure/resistant attachment the relationship the child has with their mother or caregiver is very clingy, thus making them very upset once the caregiver is away. When the mother or caregiver is back they are not easily comforted and resist their effort in comforting them. In an insecure/avoidant attachment the infant is, “indifferent and seems to avoid the mother, they are as easily comforted by a stranger, as by their parent” (Siegler 2011, p.429). Lastly, the disorganized/disoriented attachment is another insecure attachment style in which the infant has no way of coping with stress making their behavior confusing or contradictory. Through these brief descriptions of the attachment theory, many researchers have defined the turning point in which each attachment definition can have an influence on one’s self esteem, well-being and their marital relationship.

Attachment theory is the idea that a child needs to form a close relationship with at least one primary caregiver. The theory proved that attachment is necessary to ensure successful social and emotional development in an infant. It is critical for this to occur in the child’s early infant years. However, failed to prove that this nurturing can only be given by a mother (Birns, 1999, p. 13). Many aspects of this theory grew out of psychoanalyst, John Bowlby’s research. There are several other factors that needed to be taken into account before the social worker reached a conclusion; such as issues surrounding poverty, social class and temperament. These factors, as well as an explanation of insecure attachment will be further explored in