Mental health articles

The Strange Situation Procedure The next major impetus to the development of attachment theory was the design and implementation, by Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters and Wall (1978), of the Strange Situation Procedure (SSP): an observation of the phenomena that occur when infants are separated and then re-united with their caregivers. By careful observation of video-tape of the infants’ behaviours on separation and reunion with their primary carer, a number of ‘styles’ of reunion behaviour were categorised, which have become the basis of a highly fruitful body of infant development research over the past 25 years. Initially, three categories of attachment were identified by Ainsworth: the secure, the avoidant and the ambivalent. Subsequently, a group of difficult-toclassify behaviours was recognised as representing a further style, now called disorganised/disoriented. The securely attached child has experienced predictable and consistent emotional availability of the attachment figure, while the insecurely attached child is anxious about the availability of the ‘other’ and attempts to deal with this in various ways. The disorganised infant is understood to have been faced with an insoluble conflict, that is, the source of comfort and protection, the caregiver, is also the source of distress and fear. Disorganised attachment is most often seen in infants exposed to abuse or neglect, or to caregivers preoccupied with their own trauma or loss.