Attachment-system activation in young offenders using a mental simulation task (original) (raw)
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Attachment-related psychodynamics
Attachment & Human Development, 2002
Because there has been relatively little communication and cross-fertilization between the two major lines of research on adult attachment, one based on coded narrative assessments of defensive processes, the other on simple self-reports of 'attachment style' in close relationships, we here explain and review recent work based on a combination of self-report and other kinds of method, including behavioral observations and unconscious priming techniques. The review indicates that considerable progress has been made in testing central hypotheses derived from attachment theory and in exploring unconscious, psychodynamic processes related to affect-regulation and attachment-system activation. The combination of self-report assessment of attachment style and experimental manipulation of other theoretically pertinent variables allows researchers to test causal hypotheses. We present a model of normative and individual-difference processes related to attachment and identify areas in which further research is needed and likely to be successful. One long-range goal is to create a more complete theory of personality built on attachment theory and other object relations theories.
Attachment Theory and Research: Implications for Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Research, 2011
Though attachment research today is best conceptualized as integrationist and multidisciplinary, it is important to remember that attachment theory was born out of clinical process. Bowlby [ 1-3 ] was fi rst and foremost a psychoanalyst, and he drew from clinical experiences with children and adults to conceptualize his theory. Many of his ideas developed in response to dissatisfaction with the prevailing perspectives of the time. Though Melanie Klein, his supervisor at the time, was quite infl uential in his thinking about object relations, her conceptualization of development focused almost exclusively on internal confl ict rather than external events in the child's family and environment . Contrary to Klein's perspective, during the analysis of a 3-year-old boy, Bowlby observed direct links between disturbances in the mother and pathology in the child. Such experiences in analytic treatment formed the basis for his assertion that early attachment diffi culties increase vulnerability to later psychopathology.
Psihologija
From a developmental and clinical point of view attachment theory and mentalization are closely connected and have become increasingly important to understand the origins of psychopathological development. However, very little is known about how exactly different inner working models of attachment are related to diverse mentalizing abilities and this is particularly true for adult populations -healthy as well as clinical populations. In the present study we investigated this relation with a sample of inpatients diagnosed with depression and a sample of healthy individuals. In an experimental setting the attachment system was activated using the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP). Mentalization was assessed during activation and in comparison to a control condition using a modified version of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). We expected that an activation of the attachment system i) diminishes the capacity to take another's perspective in individuals with unresolved state of mind, ii) has no impact in individuals with secure attachment representation and iii) is dependent of clinical status in individuals with insecure (but organized) working models of attachment. Overall, these hypotheses were confirmed. However, the impact of clinical status on mentalization in insecure attachment has to be further explored. We summarize that attachment state of mind has a mediating influence on mentalization basically in such situations where the attachment system is activated.
Use of the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
2015
The following case study is presented to facilitate an understanding of how the attachment information evident from Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP) assessment can be integrated into a psychodynamic perspective in making therapeutic recommendations that integrate an attachment perspective. The Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP) is a valid representational measure of internal representations of attachment based on the analysis of a set of free response picture stimuli designed to systematically activate the attachment system (George and West, 2012). The AAP provides a fruitful diagnostic tool for psychodynamic-oriented clinicians to identify attachment-based deficits and resources for an individual patient in therapy. This paper considers the use of the AAP with a traumatized patient in an inpatient setting and uses a case study to illustrate the components of the AAP that are particularly relevant to a psychodynamic conceptualization. The paper discusses also attachment-based recommendations for intervention.
New frontiers and applications of attachment theory
Frontiers in Psychology, 2015
Attachment is a deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space . Bowlby considered the importance of children's relationship with their mothers in terms of their social, emotional and cognitive development. Specifically, he emphasized the importance of the link between early infant separations from their mothers and related traumatic experiences and later maladjustment. His attachment theory provides a framework able to explain how the parent-child relationship emerges and influences subsequent development, becoming the key determinant of child's social emotional adaptation and cognitive growth .