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Bowlby Attachment Theory Essay

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According to Bowlby attachment theory is “a way of conceptualising the propensity of human beings to make strong affectional bonds to particular others and of explaining the many forms of emotional distress and personality disturbance, including anxiety, depression, and emotional detachment, to which unwilling separation and loss give rise” (Bowlby, 1984 p.27). Bowlby states that affectionate bonding between caregivers and infants is crucial for a health development (1973). Based on the attachment patterns they had at early childhood with primary caregivers, children develop internal working models about self and about others. These internal working models which they form help them interpret and predict experiences in adult relationships. …show more content…

Children growing up in unhealthy family system difficult connections or no connections at all. Shelley, as a child, grew up in an unhealthy family system where her dominant father blocked healthy adaptations by restricting the freedom and thereby eventually isolating the family from the community. Sexual abuse in a family is betrayal of relationships and family roles which can damage the victim’s ability to trust and form relationship with others (Haugaard, 2000). In the case of Shelley it is evident she lacked the concept of a normal father figure throughout her life, an important factor within the family system. Though her father was physically present with her until she was 10, she may not have seen a fatherly figure in him. The sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her own father and uncle has resulted in her current interpersonal and psychological problems of feeling betrayed, powerless and …show more content…

In the case of Shelley, her feeling of being trapped in the situation would have added to the sense of powerlessness she has experienced. Burger (1984) state that when a person feels loss of control over his or her life, her or she is more prone to depression and anxiety-the common symptoms associated with post-traumatic effects of childhood sexual

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