Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is associated
with attachment insecurity.
Egeland and Sroufe1 pointed out the dramatically negative impact of neglecting or abusive maternal behavior for attachment and personality development, for which they accumulated unique prospective evidence in later phases of the Minnesota study.2 What do we know about the association between child maltreatment and attachment, what are the mechanisms linking maltreatment
with attachment insecurity and disorganization, and what type of attachment - based interventions might be most effective?
When someone has an insecure attachment style, they either exhibit avoidant or anxious behaviors to cope
with this attachment insecurity.
There are at least two strategies for dealing
with this attachment insecurity: (a) become preoccupied with relational partners by being overly sensitive to partner's emotional moves and developing a sustained expectation that partner's will eventually betray or abandon them (i.e., attachment anxiety), and / or (b) avoid developing relationships of any significant emotional depth to avoid getting hurt in the first place, which often leads insecurely attached individuals to become emotionally aloof, overly fixated with self - reliance, and emotionally unavailable to others in times of need (i.e., attachment avoidance).
«It makes sense: Unhealthy narcissism is a way of coping
with attachment insecurity.
Indeed, although they begin their article with the statement, «Frequent overnights were significantly associated
with attachment insecurity among infants,» which is what the headlines captured world - wide, they end their article with, «The present study certainly does not resolve debates about frequent overnights and the wellbeing of very young children.»
For those that are having to work to earn it or who treat people
with attachment insecurities, we have an online course coming up soon.
Not exact matches
Children of depressed mothers, including those
with subclinical depression, may experience a range of negative outcomes including developmental delays, cognitive impairments, and
attachment insecurity.
Accordingly, those people
with insecure
attachment are the most vulnerable to substance abuse, which can be their outlet for releasing their
insecurities and anxieties.
Insecurity in the pockets between texting, calling, and being together could be an indicator of insecure
attachment — something that's best explored further
with your therapist.
A recent study by Tornello et al. [19] also found that infants who spent frequent overnights away from their primary caretaker experienced greater
attachment insecurity than those who consistently stayed
with their primary caregiver.
According to scholars of
attachment theory, the
insecurity and distance of these children
with their caregivers since childhood is one the factors which are able to predict psychological well - being problems such as anxiety, depression, hyperactivity and behaviour disorders [17].
Depression and
attachment insecurity of the primary caregiver and more distal family adversity factors (such as incomplete schooling or vocational training of parents, high person - to - room ratio, early parenthood, and broken - home history of parents) were found to best predict inadequate parenting13, 14 and precede the development of a child's low compliance
with parents, low effortful control, and behavior problems.13, 15, — , 17 These psychosocial familial characteristics might also constrain the transfer of program contents into everyday family life and the maintenance of modified behaviors after the conclusion of the programs.
(Alternating custody, e.g. week - on / week - off, was associated
with disorganized
attachment in 60 percent of infants under 18 months; older children and adults who had endured this arrangement as youngsters exhibited what the researcher described as «alarming levels of emotional
insecurity and poor ability to regulate strong emotion.»)
In today's episode you will hear about why
attachment matters, background thoughts on
insecurity and prevalence, brand new (to the US) and updated
attachment research and then we mostly focus on how to apply all this knowledge
with clients
with attachment issues, and ourselves.
Children of depressed mothers, including those
with subclinical depression, may experience a range of negative outcomes including developmental delays, cognitive impairments, and
attachment insecurity.
You can challenge your
insecurities by choosing a partner
with a secure
attachment style, and work on developing yourself in that relationship.
In two additional studies, participants had feelings of
attachment security or anxiety subliminally primed
with photos of either (1) a mother caressing and looking at her child (security prime) or (2) a mother who was turning her back on a child who was crying (
insecurity prime).
Results of Study 2 suggest that retrospective reports of maternal
attachment insecurity are associated
with significantly higher LMS scores, anxious and depressive symptoms, adult romantic
attachment insecurity, and potentially high - risk relationship behaviors.
When people think about secure
attachment in this way they experience a variety of positive psychological changes, including less
insecurity, even after they leave the laboratory.6 ``... those repeatedly primed
with attachment security reported more positive relationship expectations, more positive self - views, and less
attachment anxiety.»
Briefly, researchers think of adult
attachment as a tendency to approach relationships in a particular way, primarily based on experiences
with childhood caregivers.2 Usually, researchers view
attachment in terms of the degree and kind of
insecurity (avoidance or anxiety) a person might have (see our earlier work for a full review of how
attachment styles play out in relationships).
But when a mother's capacity to do so is limited by her own personality or stressful conditions then infants
with difficult temperament or problem behaviors are at risk for developing
attachment insecurity.
The
attachment bond, or a child's first love relationship, formed
with the primary caregiver, also plays a large role in the development of
insecurities.
Commitment issues experienced within the context of an intimate relationship setting may be the result of
attachment insecurity, which can manifest
with three different thought patterns and behaviors:
Attachment insecurity reflects patterns of interaction that yield an expectation that a child's signals of distress or pleasure will be met
with non-responsiveness, insensitive responsiveness, or inconsistent responsiveness from a parent.
TREATMENT PLAN OVERALL GOAL: To address
attachment concerns, reduce
attachment insecurities, and foster the creation of a secure bond (Johnson, Creating Connections, p21) OVERALL TASKS: The creation and maintenance of a consistent positive therapeutic alliance
with both partners.
Percent prevalence was used for research questions 1 and 5, which addressed rates of
attachment insecurity and disorganization in individuals
with CD / ODD.
The standardized mean difference in
attachment insecurity between individuals
with and without CD / ODD was large.
The results of this study, aggregating findings from 21 primary studies, indicated clearly that
attachment insecurity / disorganization is associated
with CD / ODD.
Along
with colleagues, I have written about the robust scholarly literature showing the many ways in which childhood
attachment insecurities last into adulthood and impair romantic relationship development and security.
Characteristics of studies comparing the mean level of
attachment insecurity of individuals
with CD / ODD and without CD / ODD (research question 4)
Cohen's d was used to address research question 4, which compared the level of
attachment insecurity in individuals
with and without CD / ODD.
More importantly, our results demonstrate an interaction between dispositional
attachment insecurities and
attachment security that was temporarily activated to explore the link
with emotion processing (Carnelley and Rowe, 2010).
The theory behind emotionally focused therapy considers the key principle in conflict among couples to be
insecurity in the
attachment one has
with one's partner.
The stages and steps of emotionally focused therapy are outlined below: Emotionally focused therapy can help people address
attachment - related
insecurities and learn how to interact
with their romantic partners in more loving, responsive, and emotionally connected ways, which can result in a more secure
attachment.
Few studies have examined how
attachment insecurity (i.e.,
attachment anxiety,
attachment avoidance) is associated
with the more subtle and less severe forms of sexual coercion, such as verbal threats and partner manipulation.
Children
with a history of negative social experiences, such as maltreatment or
insecurity attachment, have a tendency to be hyper vigilant for signs of threats.
Alternating custody, e.g. week - on / week - off, was associated
with disorganized
attachment in 60 percent of infants under 18 months; older children and adults who had endured this arrangement as youngsters exhibited what the researcher described as «alarming levels of emotional
insecurity and poor ability to regulate strong emotion.»
The decrease in
attachment anxiety in the control group is perhaps explained in light of considerations of Mikulincer and Shaver (2007b), who report that a simple imaginary encounter
with a supportive dating partner may lead to decreases in
attachment insecurity.
Although at baseline toddlers
with depressed mothers evidenced higher rates of
insecurity than did toddlers
with non-depressed mothers, at the completion of the intervention the group that received the
attachment - theory informed intervention had significantly higher rates of security than did participants who received the community standard intervention.
But only the first, quantity of care, also contributed to the prediction of
attachment insecurity at 36 months, 18 again in interaction
with insensitive mothering.
Similarly compelling results have been obtained
with maltreated infants, where baseline rates of
insecurity were over 90 % and where post-intervention
attachment security did not differ from that of non-maltreated infants.
Although the secure vs. insecure
attachment distinction has some predictive validity, disorganized
attachment has far better documented links
with specific types of psychopathology than do other types of
insecurity.4, 9 Still, much less is understood about the mechanisms through which disorganized
attachment affects the expression of psychopathology in the child, and whether it is a specific contributor or a more general marker for psychopathology in general.
Licata M, Zietlow AL, Träuble B, Sodian B, Reck C. Maternal emotional availability and its association
with maternal psychopathology,
attachment style
insecurity and theory of mind.
Beyond confirming that self - reported early risk exposure was associated
with a more sexualized romantic self - concept, greater numbers of relationships, and greater
attachment insecurity, «Study 1» confirmed a hypothesized four - way interaction between gender, early risk, romantic self - concept, and
attachment style.
Also, in a more recent meta - analysis it was found that
attachment insecurity was significantly linked
with externalizing behaviors in 69 studies (Fearon et al. 2010).
In addition, mothers»
attachment insecurities to their own and their children's psychological functioning (both anxiety and avoidance) at the time of diagnosis were associated
with their children's emotional problems and children's poor self - image 7 years later.
Results suggest that higher levels of
attachment insecurity were associated
with increased psychological symptoms, higher levels of cognitive vulnerabilities, and greater general and relationship impairments.
Our results suggest that low self - compassion,
attachment insecurity and greater interpersonal problems are associated
with greater levels of emotional distress in patients
with mixed anxiety and depression.
The results also showed that more specific symptoms of anxiety (i.e., OCD and PTSD) correlated not only
with emotion dysregulation and
attachment insecurity but also
with emotion understanding.