Attachment Theory Of Attachment

As an adult people with dismissive avoidant attachment have the tendency to emotionally distance themselves from their partner. They deny the importance of loved ones and detach easily from them. They can shut down emotionally and are able to turn off their feelings.

There are two different types of avoidance attachments: fearful and dismissive. People with either of these avoidance attachment styles often say that they are uncomfortable being close to others; and they find it hard to trust and depend on others. They get nervous when anyone gets too close to them, or when romantic partners want to be more intimate with them. People with a fearful style of avoidant attachment often have mixed

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.

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 three prototypes explored are avoidant, anxious-ambivalent, and secure attachments which describes how partners will behave in close relationships and how caring and supportive each individual is within their relationship. Avoidant attached individuals are withdrawn from relationships and untrustworthy of others. Anxious-Ambivalent individuals worry often about their partner’s needs being fulfilled as well as theirs and analyze if they’re moving too fast in the relationship when compared to their partner. Secured individuals are completely trustworthy of their partner and confident in their feelings and

Like Fresno et al., Meyer et al. (2017) found a direct relationship between CSA and attachment style—this time following survivors into adulthood. Meyer et al. were interested in the persistent complications of CSA into adulthood, including adult attachment styles. They hypothesized that CSA directly leads to insecure attachment, especially avoidant and anxious attachment, which in return results in maladaptive emotion regulation and inappropriate behaviors. They also hypothesized that women who experienced CSA would be closely associated with anxious attachment and CSA men would be associated with avoidant attachment. Meyer et al. explored this by administering an online survey advertised to local college campuses, community organizations, mental health counseling groups, and local 12-step sexual addiction treatment groups. The survey measured attachment style outcome using the Close Relationships Scale. Out of 751 participants, 129 or 16% of participants reported experiencing CSA (32 males and 97 females). The results showed that those with CSA in their history were more likely to have an anxious adult attachment, and surprisingly found no relationship for avoidant attachment. This is a direct relationship between CSA history and insecure adult attachment, and was found to not be mediated by gender. There were no gender differences as both men and women were likely to

The Attachment theory is a psychological, ethological and evolutionary theory that gives a descriptive and explanatory framework of understanding interpersonal relationship between human beings. Presented by John Bowlby, the important tenet of this theory is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to progress generally.

To begin with attachment theory, first everyone should understand what the attachment is. According to attachment means bonding between a child and caregiver or vice versa. The attachment theory is the theory that describes the long term interpersonal relationship between the humans. Also, it can be defined as the strong bond between parent and child, and later in peer and romantic relationship (Metzger, Erdman, Ng 85). It generates a specific fact that how the humans react in relationships when they get hurt, separated from loved ones and perceiving a threat. Basically the two main types of attachment are secure and insecure. Secure attachment is the attachments where mother and father are available for their child and during that time child demonstrates his or her stress and reestablish the connection (Metzger, Erdman, Ng 87). Insecure attachment is the attachment where parents are not regularly in touch with their children or they ignore their child which built a failed emotion communication (Metzger, Erdman, Ng 87). Also, it may be repeated from one generation to another until it is not recovered. However, as a result of attachment theory, it is so important for children to know about it and there are also several emotional effects on children when their parents leave to go to another county due to their connections or bond between them.

This essay will comprise, firstly, of past research looking into what attachment/ attachment theory is, focusing on Bowlby’s (1973) research into why an infant’s first attachment is so important. Followed, by the work of Ainsworth et al (1978) bringing to light the findings from the strange situation, and how the research can explain mental illness. From this and in-depth discussion looking at how the previously discussed pieces of research have an effect on two particular disorders, depression and anxiety; while keeping a holistic approach considering other variables within attachment theory which have been linked with the development of these disorders. Through-out, the implications of knowing about this potential link between attachment and mental health will also be discussed. Finally, a conclusion will be made to whether there is a strong link with attachment and mental illness.

Hazan and Shaver (1987) aimed to investigate whether they could classify the responders’ love relationships as secure, ambivalent, and avoidant, whether there was a correlation between the formed attachment pattern from childhood and attachment pattern during the love relationships, and whether there was a correlation between the distribution of childhood attachment patterns and adult love relationships’ attachment patterns.

Attachment theory is an emotional bond that connects one person to another. Attachment theory deals with intimacy in relationships and the impact an attachment can have across a person’s lifespan. Attachment theory usually focuses on the relationships between a child and a parent/caregiver or between partners. John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth are responsible for the creation of attachment theory after they began to work on mother-infant interactions. There were three categories that were formed due to their findings; Secure, Insecure, Anxious attachment with 3 sub categories avoidant, ambivalent, and disorganized. According to the article on Attachment style and the Cognitive Representation of Communication Situation attachment theory is associated specifically with communicative behavior in relationships. The bond between a child and mother is the primary force of infant development as per Bowlby and Ainsworth.

1. Alexander, P. C. (1993). The differential effects of abuse characteristics and attachment in the prediction of long-term effects of sexual abuse. Journal of interpersonal violence, 8, 346-362

More common behavior in avoidant men rather than women is the ability to reduce emotions so that anger or hostility is not present in conflict. This is because they are emotionally non-supportive. With anger and hostility there is a sense of involvement which needs support. This is where ambivalent types are shown. When dealing with a major problem they tend to show much more emotion and passion; greater anger, stress, and anxiety. After the conflict they see their relationship and partner less positive in terms of commitment, openness with each other, and supportiveness. (Simpson et al., 1996)

Many psychologists have come and gone, and many different theoretical orientations have been developed. With each orientation has come a new perspective on development, behaviour and mental processes. Some are similar, yet others could not be more contradictory. Attachment is one such theoretical orientation, developed by John Bowlby out of his dissatisfaction with other existing theories. Although Bowlby rejected psychoanalytical explanations for early infant bonds, the theory of attachment was influenced in part by the principles of psychoanalysis; in particular the observations by Ana Freud and Dorothy Burlingham of young children separated from

Researchers have been looking at theories to show how important relationships are in people’s lives and attachment theory has allowed them to understand human behavior in a variety of ways. Feelings, such as anger and romantic love, can be directly correlated to the attachments received as a child.