John Bowlby's Path to Developing the Attachment Theory Essay

Precious is a movie based on the novel Push by Sapphire (Daniels and Fletcher, 2008). It is on the life of an illiterate 16 year old African American girl, Claireece “Precious” Jones. (Natividad, 2010). I have applied John Bowlby’s Attachment Theory and Erik Erikson's Theory of Psychosocial Development on the film. These theories helped identify an understanding of the characters, family group, and community in the film. I have primarily assessed Precious as the chosen character. This paper will analyze the many factors in assessing her human behavior.

John Bowlby had worked with residential school children as a volunteer early on in his career and had determined that the children who suffered the most from anger outbursts, aggressivity, and whom her termed “affectionless” were also the children who had suffered the most maternal deprivation (). Bowlby advanced that the loss of the mother figure was extremely distressing and damaging and could influence adults' behavior years later. Hence, where psychoanalysis had been concerned “solely with the imaginings of the childish mind, the fantasied pleasures and the dreaded retributions” (Fonagy), Bowlby showed that humans do not develop in a void or as “individual monads” but as members of interacting systems. Bowlby developed his theory on attachment for several decades, and at a time where any dealings with childhood trauma were still rigorously influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis through the likes of psychoanalysts such Anna Freud or Melanie Klein. Even Winnicott was “revulsed” upon reading Bowlby's papers (siegel). It certainly was a bitter pill to swallow for psychoanalysts who had been repeating since Freud that the newborn was a little tyrant fighting for oral gratification at the mother's breast and merely clinging on to fulfil sexual instinctual needs. Bowlby's work was thus eschewed for a considerable time, despite his involvement with the World Health Organisation and the considerable empirical weight that was added to his findings by Mary Ainsworth's studies in

John Bowlby created the theory of attachment, this is where he believed that the earliest bonds formed by babies with their parents/care gives have a tremendous impact of their relationships/attachments towards people in their continuous life. Also Bowlby believe that the attachment bond is to keep the infants close to their mother, this is to improve the child’s chances in survival. What is attachment? This is a strong affectionate tie with special people which young babies will make in the early stage of their life e.g. an attachment towards their mum and dad.

Attachment theories look at the different ways in which children form attachments to others, usually their primary carer. This bond is usually formed very early on by a baby becoming attached to the adult who feed’s, changes and comforts them. John Bowlby’s believed that this primary carer did not have to be the child’s natural mother, but that they did need one central person. As a result of a close bond with their primary carer, from the age of 5 or 6 months, children who are separated from them experience emotions of loss and grief. Bowlbys findings have brought about many changes. It was this research that led to the introduction of the key worker system. Many Early Years settings have a settling in policy to help children during their

However the client the loss of significance surrounded her was evident throughout childhood, she experiences lack of friendship because she did not want to associate anyone because of her grieves .However the need for counselling was ignored due to her religious affiliation. The client the loss seems difficult to accept, as she was willing to try understand and acknowledge her needs and try to cope with her loss that was trigger attachment bond. From this perspective from the client the bond that she share with her mother would be difficult to counsel without an understanding of the theory of attachment. Bowlby’s attachment theory (1973, 1988) has stress the important implications for counseling and psychotherapy reference.

8. Bowlby developed the attachment theory. He defined his theory as a “lasting psychological connectedness between human beings.” Bowlby believed that suggests infants are “biologically predisposed to form attachments with primary caregivers in early life.” The infant's means of attachment aids the infant in feeling more safe, secure and “increases their likelihood of survival.” Caregivers are a secure base. Harlow proposed the idea of contact comfort. The idea of contact comfort was shown with the rhesus monkey experiment. The monkeys were given two surrogate mothers, one of cloth and one of wire. Because of the cloths comfort, monkeys were most likely to be attached to that “mother”, even if the other “mother” of only wire was providing food. Harlow also concluded that if a monkey was isolated from their mother for a prolonged period of time that the monkey would show autistic characteristics. Ainsworth’s also made discoveries of her own when

However one person can not provide everything a growing child needs and children can form close attachments with a number of people. These emotional bonds that children develop with their parents and other caregivers are vital for their personal, social and emotional development.

The child may become angry, depressed, completely passive or non- responsive. The behaviour shown towards them would be erratic, extreme, frightening and confusing. The child becomes confused not knowing whether their needs are going to be met or not. Research shows that the homes of these children often had physical or sexual abuse histories, mental health or drug/substance misuse. Bowlby’s ideas had a great influence on the way researchers thought about attachment.

Susan has no initial contact with her family and has very little friends. John Bowlby (1907-1990) Attachment theory would suggest that as she did not have a healthy attachment relationship with her mother and father, this early childhood experience may have resulted in her inability to have healthy attachments in later life. Susan has been in short term relationships can never settle down and trust a man round her children. Bowlby argued that if an infant were deprived of their mother during their critical period of development, then a host of serious and permanent consequences could follow.

John Bowlby’s attachment theory established that an infant’s earliest relationship with their primary caregiver or mother shaped their later development and characterized their human life, “from the cradle to the grave” (Bowlby, 1979, p. 129). The attachment style that an infant develops with their parent later reflects on their self-esteem, well-being and the romantic relationships that they form. Bowlby’s attachment theory had extensive research done by Mary Ainsworth, who studied the mother-infant interactions specifically regarding the theme of an infant’s exploration of their surrounding and the separation from their mother in an experiment called the strange situation. Ainsworth defined the four attachment styles: secure,

John Bowlby was a psychoanalyst who felt that a child’s mental health and behavioral problems could be accredited to early childhood attachments. Bowlby’s evolutionary theory of attachments says that before children are born they are genetically pre-programmed to generate attachments with others. Infant’s behaviors such as crying, smiling or laughing stimulate responses from their caregiving adults. Bowlby suggests that the cause of attachment is not food/nutrition but they need for care and comfort. Typically the infant will only bond with one parent and form one primary attachment that will be the basis for all future attachments.

In the late 1960’s John Bowlby created the attachment theory. The attachment theory is a concept in developmental psychology, which in personal development concerns the importance of attachment. Specifically, it makes the claim that the ability for an individual to form an emotional and physical attachment to another person. It gives a sense of ability and security necessary to take risks, to branch out, to grow, and develop a personality. The attachment theory is mainly focused on long-term relationships and bonds, particularly between a parent and child.

Research suggests that infant’s brain continues to develop long after birth and infant’s first relationships have long-lasting effects on their later learning and development. John Bowlby’s attachment theory focuses on the idea that the bond between a child and mother, is an important part of children’s healthy emotional development in their childhood and later in life. A key point of Bowlby’s theory shows that infants go through stages when forming relationships with caregivers. Bowlby suggests that infants that are six weeks to six- eight months old, start to respond differently to caregivers they know, then to strangers. They then start to show signs of attachment to a familiar caregiver from this age (Berk, 2013, p. 429).

Introduction A client has presented their child to a psychiatrist complaining that the kid is reporting abysmal scores at school and is also having trouble focusing on small details at home. The client suspects that their child has the mental disorder, ADHD. The psychiatrist researches on the disorder and discovers some relevant information. Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD) includes one of the common neurobehavioral childhood disorders in contemporary time and can have profound effects on the academic performance, well-being and social life of a child (2007, 2015).

Worries the significance of "Attachment" as to self-improvement. In particular, it makes the claim that the capacity for a person to shape an enthusiastic and physical "connection" to someone else gives a feeling of solidness and security important to go out on a limb, fan out, and develop and create as a personality. Actually, Attachment theory is an expansive thought with numerous expressions, and the best comprehension of it can be had by taking a look at a few of those expressions turn. Strong attachment between mother and child is shown through physical contact and while holding the child, they face each other. Adolescents Form Attachments with Peers as a child reaches adolescence, they tend to depart away from the attachment relationships with any parental type figure. Attachment bonds between parents and adolescents are "Treated by many adolescents more like ties that restrain than like ties that anchor and secure, and a key task of adolescence is to develop autonomy so as no longer to need to rely on parents ' support when making one 's way through the world". A way of seeking independence from the parents is to rely more on peers as attachment figures. Eventually, adolescents will form long-term relationships with their peers that may be of the romantic kind, which may become full attachment relationships. These relationships are formed not only because of the need for attachment, but also