Mental health articles

ATTACHMENT THEORY Attachment can be defined as an enduring emotional bond characterised by a tendency to seek and maintain proximity to a specific figure(s) particularly when under stress. Parental protection acts as a provider of vital support and external emotional regulation for the young child. Caregiver sensitivity and attachment are linked to subsequent social competence in infants. Attachment theory understands the nature of the infant’s attachment to her caregivers, as a primarily biologically determined phenomenon, upon which the infant’s survival depends. The infant develops internal working models of relationships from the quality and nature of early experience with caregivers, and this influences ongoing social and emotional development. Attachment theory holds that there is an innate system that has evolved within the brain that is activated by separation and which strives to re-unite the infant with her caregiver (usually the mother). Attachment theory has its origins in ethological studies of animal mother–infant behaviours, meticulous observational studies of human mothers and their infants, and psychoanalytic theory. It potentially bridges the gap between theories of human development and behaviour arising out of psychological research, developmental observation and clinically based theories, including psychoanalysis.

Tags: infant