Evaluation Of A Reflective Research Enquiry

Lauren’s mother succumbed to the troubles of the world and was addicted to drugs while she was pregnant. Her mother’s addiction caused the severity of Lauren’s

Growing up with substance abuse parents can potentially put the children at risk for developmental deficiencies. Parents who are substance dependent are oftentimes focus on themselves over their children, and this leads to neglecting the children. Without the attachment with the parents, children are lack of security and trust to explore the outside world. According to Erik Erikson, children develop at different stage. Infants are totally dependent on their parents. If parents provide the good care and support to the children, they will develop the basic trust to their parents and the world, otherwise, they will feel insecure and develop mistrust instead. This mistrust may cause problems later in life. As children begin to grow and navigate the challenges of adolescence, parental substance abuse has a direct impact on their well-being, as well as their behavior. Teenagers are eager to seek their identities. Yet, growing up with mistrust, inferiority, and shame

Bowlby’s work on attachment theory shows infants treated well develop a secure attachment. Hence they have a good foundation for healthy self-esteem, behavior, and future relationships (Barnet, Ganiban, & Cicchetti, 1991). If the infant develops an insecure bond with the caregiver, they may develop mental disturbances (Cicchetti, Ganiban, & Barnett, 1991). Mary Ainsworth, Bowlby’s contemporary, applied Bowlby’s theory in her research. In 1978, Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, and Wall, created the strange situation technique to study one year old infant attachments (as cited in Colonnesi et al., 2011, p.631). Results of their analysis led to three categories of attachment. They distinguished a secure (B), an insecure avoidant (A), and insecure ambivalent attachment (C)

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.

Growing up is hard but children that grow up in homes with a parent, or parents, with substance abuse issues are more likely to become dependent themselves on some sort of substance. This can stem from the children carrying a heavier burden than most their age which can lead to depression, aggression, low self-esteem just to name a few issues (Schroeder, Kelley, & Fals-Stewart, 2006). While the chances that a child raised in a conventional home with two loving parents can still turn to drugs it is more likely that a child raised in a troubled home will be addicted to drugs (Sharma, 2016). A child raised in a home with a parent that has a substance abuse is likely to experience poor parental bonding, exposed to a stressful environment, as well as experience rejection from their parents. Growing up with a parent that is addicted to an opioid such as heroin is compared to the family burden of having a person with schizophrenia (Pomini, et al., 2014). Families that have problematic drug or alcohol abuse “experience disruption, chronic stress, excessive worry and poor psychological adjustment” (Gethin, Trimmingham, Chang, Farrell, & Ross, 2016). In the article Dance with a Demon, the writer describes her life growing up

Inside my family structure, my mother’s parents struggled with addiction. My grandmother, Ellen Sweeney, who has since deceased, was addicted to opiates, and my grandfather, Wayne Smith, who has also passed away, was an alcoholic. My mom was one of five children, her siblings included, Margaret “Markie”, the eldest, , Catherine “Kerrie”, the second eldest, my mother, Marian, the middle child, Amy, the second youngest, and lastly, Matt, the youngest. Moreover, my mother and my aunt Margaret “Markie” Smith have also battled alcoholism and my aunt Amy has since been diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. Due to my mother’s family struggle with alcoholism, addiction, and mental disorder, my mother’s childhood was particularly difficult. Not only was she undoubtedly influenced by her parent’s substance abuse when she was a child, but it has continues to affect her as an adult raising her own children.

A subgroup of men with an avoidant attachment style suffers from a condition known as the Madonna-whore complex ((Brogaard 2015). The avoidant attachment style is characterized by an inability to form long-term committed relationships. It is premised on fear of intimacy, rejection and abandonment that arose in early childhood as explained by Brogaard (2015). Brogaard analyzed that the complex occurs as a result of maltreatment by the mother and fear of incest as interpreted by Freud. “When a mother abandons, neglects, verbally, emotionally or physically abuses or is emotionally distant from her infant or young child, the child feels so hurt that he will eventually repress many of the memories associated with the mother’s behavior.”(Brogaard 2015).

At 11 years old she saw her mother deceased in a casket. She gave birth to her first baby at the age of 16 and had five more children to relieve issues of feeling empty and alone. As the pressures of teen pregnancy, poverty and motherhood mount Diane turns to crack cocaine and neglect her then young children. Her eldest daughter reports her drug use to her teachers which results in the removal of all six of Diane’s children into foster care for a period of 10 years. During that time Diane turns to her community drug rehabilitation center, Child welfare services, her religion and her therapist for help in recovering from her addictions and for help in reuniting with her children.

“ (The Strange Situation). Based on the results of the Strange Situation, Ainsworth and her colleague identified three types of attachment styles, a secure attachment which composed a majority of the children in the experiment, insecure avoidant and ambivalent/resistant. For a child who has secure attachment can be “able to freely explore when the mother is around, interacts with the stranger when the mother is present but not when she is absent, shows distress when the mother leaves and is happy to see the mother return” (Mary Ainsworth). For a child that exhibits that inhibits “Anxious-Resistant Insecure Attachment is anxious to explore and is wary of the stranger even when the mother is present, is extremely distressed when the mother leaves, but is ambivalent when the mother returns. He will stay close to the mother upon her return, but will show resentment by resisting the mother's attention and pushing her away.” and for the child who inhibits “an Anxious-Avoidant Insecure Attachment will avoid or ignore the mother and show little emotion when his mother leaves and upon her

A psychological perspective of attachment is a term to describe a reciprocal emotional tie that develops over time. There are many developmental theories relating themselves to attachment and deprivation and many arguments over the nature-nurture debate. However, the name that comes to the forefront of most minds when speaking of this topic is

The following essay will aim to explore two developmental theories. It will also look at how they have become relevant in counselling and psychotherapy practice, how they should be helpful and offer support when a presenting issue occurs from a client, and how the counsellor will work in partnership with the client. The chosen theories are based on John Bowlby’s attachment theory and David Winnicott’s developmental theory.

When Shania was born, her mother Shantel, was high on drugs, Child Protective Services (CPS) were notified, and Shania was taken away at birth and placed with a foster care family as a result of her mothers, dual diagnoses of substance and alcohol abuse. Statistics show an alarming increase in substance abuse. Regardless of the reasons, substance-related disorders impact the family, couple, and individual and life cycles in a profound way (Gladding, 2015). Shantel states she was required by Child Protective Services to complete an alcohol and substance abuse program.

Lifespan development is a field of study that examines patterns of growth, change, and stability in behavior that occur throughout the entire life span. The purpose of field being that one can determine the average maturation levels both physically and mentally in humans being born today (Feldman, 2006). This paper will delve into the human development of a twenty-one year old fictional character named Sara Jones, in a way that is similar to people who are living today. Sara’s life will be explained and discussed from prenatal development through newborn and preschool up until middle childhood and adolescence. Although she is a fictional character her stages of development will be presented in a way that is probable for a young

In this case study psychodynamic theory by Freud (1859-1939) and attachment theory by Bowlby (1907-1990) seems the most pertinent to this case study. The claim of psychodynamic theory is that outcomes in adulthood are predicted from infancy. Freud maintained that we have several levels of conscious and unconscious thought and as suggested by Hothersall (2014) the problems in day to day functioning are seen as a result of negative early experiences that have not been resolved. Also looking at attachment theory where the nature and importance of the parent-child relationship helps explain any behavioural or relationship problems in a family situation we know through Bowlby (1958) and Ainsworth (1973) that the degree of security in the first attachment is thought to be the most influential factor in the child’s internal working models of relationships and will shape all intimate interpersonal bonds formed by the individual in future

When looking at parental addiction to alcohol, Sharon Wegcheider-Cruse developed a concept of certain behavioral roles that children of alcoholics take on in order to cope with the addiction issues of the parent which can often lead to emotional harm. Wegcheider-Cruse separates the behavioral roles into four distinct categories each with a different name comprising a hero, a scapegoat, a lost child, and a mascot. When a child takes on a “hero” behavioral role, they are often referred to as the “model child” and are known to take over the family responsibilities which the parents are not addressing. Although there are many positives to a young child taking on this role in the family, including becoming independent, being responsible, and often over achieving, there are many negative impacts made on the child’s emotional state and behavior as well. These negatives consist of having a fear of rejection, having feelings of low self worth, striving for perfection, ignoring