Traumatic Bond Theory

Traumatic stress is the normal reaction to a traumatic event, such as; a natural disaster, a motor vehicle accident, a plane crash, a shooting or a terrorist attack.

This suggest that attachment has been at the forefront of children’s social relationships. Attachment substantially contributes to our understanding of why the experience of being physically abused might lead to the development of representations and behavioral patterns that hinder the development of peer relationships. Like Social Learning Theory regarding parental abusive models, attachment plays a major role in how abuse affects children. As such, attachment theory explores the relevance of maltreatment and physical abuse on children. The theory also concludes that children who experience abuse or neglect are likely to develop insecure and disorganized attachments, causing them to extend that same behavior to their own children. This suggests that early childhood adverse experiences influence later parenting behavior (Begle, Dumas & Hanson, 2010).

An article written about the effects of sexual abuse in accordance with male victims, claims: “[t]hree perspectives of early family relationships and attachment theory, developmental psychopathology, and trauma theory provide a conceptual understanding as to why some victims are vulnerable to the effects of sexual abuse while others appear resilient to it.” Although the study's main objective is to understand the developmental effects of male CSA survivors, it also notes that the majority of the data collected about the psychological well being of the sample is also representative of female CSA survivors. In a similar study on the repercussions of sexual abuse in male victims, Scott Eastman depicts a table simply explaining the process of coping, or the problems tied to CSA. Much like a story line, there is a beginning a middle and an end after the initial incident, but not all survivors reach the stages of completion and often times face difficulties coping. In the middle stage of the process, is distraction, obsessive review. These are symptoms tied to PTSD, defined as a disorder which a traumatic event causes flashbacks, nightmares, and uncontrollable thoughts about the event. It may reasonably be concluded that the obsessive thoughts are tied to PTSD because reviewing the traumatic experience may give the illusion of understanding to the survivor. In the final Stage of the process, following acceptance, is

In my third article by Lenore Walker discusses Battered Women and the impact caused on them from martial abuse that had led to Battered Women to be diagnosed with PTSD from the level of beatings, and constant abuse they took from their partners over the time of the relationship. Walker discusses five major areas that negatively affected with the women’s coping skills they are manipulation, dissociation, anger, intimacy, and compliance. When she was assessing women of the PTSD like symptoms she had come to notice a few things about the women, that lead to diagnose them with PTSD as the symptoms, as well as what triggered the responses are the same across the board for all those diagnosed with PTSD. She noticed that many of the victims would minimize the trauma or even deny it happened from the very start which is a common coping method that she had pointed out in her article. She also noticed that some of the women would almost go into a sort of trance like state in which they would gaze

The cycle of abuse starts when an individual is abused and then the perpetrator feels regret. The guilt leads the perpetrator to ask for forgiveness and engages in positive behavior towards the victim. The victim does not leave the abuse because he/she “perceives few options and feels anxious terminating the relationship with the abusive partner, feels hopes for the relationship at the contriteness of the abuser and does not call the police or file charges.” In addition, after the victim forgives the perpetrator the couples experiences a honeymoon stage. During the honeymoon, stage the victim is optimistic about the relationship’s nonabusive future. After the honeymoon

Early childhood experiences are central in the patterning of an individual’s emotions and can become the main reason of the problems the experience throughout life. In social work practices psychodynamic theory is what is uses when an early attachment relationships and the developmental history of a client that may have history of trauma or abuse. Though Trigg and William are still children they are close to the age of adolescent and are showing signs of behavioral problems and stress. Their early exposure to the domestic violence between their parents can be the reason why as they grow one has behavioral issues and the other cannot connect with people his own age and has a hard time with adjustment. Without treatment Trigg could possibly be diagnosed with a conduct disorder as he gets older and William and Sally with attachment/adjustment

Working thesis: Many victims of abuse continue a relationship with their abuser because they do not recognize the signs of abuse.

Reactive Attachment Disorder is classified under Trauma- and Stressor- Related Disorders under the new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The following mental disorders are also classified under Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorders: Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, Acute Stress Disorder, Adjustment Disorders, Other Specified Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorder, and Unspecified Trauma- and Stressor-Related Disorder (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). Reactive Attachment Disorder is a fairly uncommon mental disorder where the child (onset is usually before age five) has severe disturbances in social relatedness with others (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014). This results in the child not turning to a primary caregiver (e.g. mother) for comfort, protection, or support. This behavior of not seeking support from a primary caregiver is related to the main diagnostic feature of the disorder, which is underdeveloped attachment (DSM-5; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). As a result of underdeveloped attachments with the primary caregiver, the child will display aggressive and hostile towards the mother an may even seek attachment with strangers (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2014; Speltz, McClellan, DeKlyen, & Jones, 1999).

Reactive attachment disorder is a unique disorder in its onset, impact on all aspects of life, and diversity of subtypes. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual – IV (DSM- IV), reactive attachment disorder was characterized by two subtypes; the disinhibited and the inhibited subtypes. The inhibited subtype was identified as being withdrawn, unemotional, and having difficulty forming any sort of significant relationship with others. The disinhibited subtype’s most defining characteristic was indiscriminate friendliness, and overwhelming trust for strangers. While the two subtypes seem like completely different disorders that have no relation, the reason they were originally put together in the DSM-IV was their origins. These disorders originate from severe maltreatment in childhood, and are fairly rare because of the level of severity necessary for the disorder to develop. Their common origin hints at a problem within the attachment relationship as a potential source of difficulties. The name itself is derived from a reaction to pathogenic care in early childhood.

“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).

First, there is dissonance between the comfort, love, and security expected and desired in the romantic attachment bond and what is experienced within the violent romantic relationship. This dissonance itself results in a clash between expectation and reality, which can result in psychological trauma (Janoff-Bulman, 1992). This dissonance is especially pronounced among women whose internal working models of intimate relationships have not been damaged by prior abuse (e.g., in childhood). However, women whose internal working models were already damaged by earlier childhood abuse or other trauma are at an even greater risk of PTSD as a result of their previous traumatic experience. In these cases, DV/IPV exacerbates and compounds the effects of the woman’s prior trauma. Second, regardless of the working models women may have regarding the romantic attachment relationship, DV/IPV inherently denies psychological and emotional union with the other person, which also further exerts traumatic psychological effects on the individual who has experienced DV/IPV (Levendosky,

Battered-women syndrome highlights the female victim’s psychological impact of the abuse. McMahon (1999) suggest that the female victim’s inability to respond effectively to abuse triggers fear, depression, learned helplessness, and low self-esteem. All these psychological reactions can be closely associated with PTSD. In a study of four hundred women who filed restraining orders, it was revealed that approximately seventy percent of these victims met the criteria for PTSD (Cattaneo, Bell, Goodman, and Dutton, 2007). This research emphasized that the majority of domestic violence victims do suffer from severe psychological abuse.

This shift in thought suggested that human beings are biologically wired for connection because attachment to others improves our chances for survival and reproductive success. This theory of attachment also introduced a new explanation for pathology: not necessarily “bad mothers,” as Bowlby suggested – but, rather, unavailable caregivers. (Ein-Dor, Reizer, Shaver, & Dotan, 2012) Within this theoretical framework there are essentially two modes of attachment: secure and insecure. Of the two, insecure attachment has long been viewed as a contributing factor to a host of maladaptive behaviors, disorders, and cognitions (Ein-Dor & Doron, 2015). It is seen, historically, as something that needs repair. However, new literature is shedding light on an alternative interpretation of insecure attachment. This new interpretation suggests that insecure attachment can have adaptive qualities. This new theory falls under the moniker of social defense theory. This study seeks to further the empirical support for social defense theory by hypothesizing that insecure attachment has adaptive qualities that may be beneficial to group, as well as individual,

Herman (1997) describes trauma as an “affliction of the powerless” (p.33). Trauma exceeds the person’s ability to cope or comprehend the event or experience. It involves the violation of the person’s ability to piece together a cohesive narrative as it relates to their schema about their world and relationships. Additionally, as noted by Steele and Kuban (2010), “neuroscience has now clearly established that trauma is not primarily a cognitive experience, but a sensory mid-deep brain experience” (p. 29). The stored sensory trauma experience will create an “arousal survivor pattern” that keeps the victim in a constant fight or flight loop (Steele & Kuban, 2010, p. 29-30). Under those circumstances, Kuban and Steele (2011), describe the impact of the trauma can affect, “learning, behavior, social, emotional and psychological functioning” (p. 41). Because of the fact that traumatized individuals retain intense emotions relating to the experience it is fragmented due to the body’s response to counter the overwhelming force connected to the trauma. As a consequence, this fragmented version of the traumatized person’s narrative, creates disassociation from the source and takes on a meaning all its

The concept of attachment was first introduced by John Bowlby (1969), who emphasizes the importance of mother-child relationship when he was studying children who had been separated from their mothers. Attachment is the close, enduring emotional bond to parents or other caregivers, and it is necessary for normal social and emotional development. Mary Ainsworth expanded Bowlby’s attachment theory by devising the “Strange Situation” method to observe children’ behavior during episodes of repeated separation and reunion with their caregivers, and categorized into three distinct patterns of attachment: secure, avoidant, and resistant. A fourth attachment style, known as disorganized, was later proposed by Main and Solomon (1990). Despite the growing literature on attachment theory, a great number of questions about attachment theory remain unanswered. Ethical issues, limitations, and questions of early attachment studies, as well as future directions in attachment theory research, are discussed.