The tag Attachment gathers together other material relating to this topic.

This is a particular and important aspect of human relationships described by Bowlby, and subsequently developed by a large body of researchers and theorists.

Definitions

When we speak of there being an Attachment Relationship between two people (for instance between a KeyWorker and young person) this does not mean that they are 'attached' in a sentimental way!

An attachment relationship refers to the fact that a specific person responds to another specific person in somewhat predictable ways, particularly at a time of stress. Note that one person might have quite different styles of attachment relationship towards the different key figures in their life - and it seems that during adolescence one of the things that happens is that multiple parallel (perhaps quite different) attachments start to merge (to "average out", if we were to put it crudely) - in this way humans start to form increasingly lasting "expectancies" about helping/caring/authority relationships that we call Internal Working Models - maps of how certain kinds of relationships tend to work. This is absolutely crucial when we think about how AMBIT seeks to influence a young person's Relationship to help; what we are suggesting is that we want to introduce some differences and change in a young person's Internal Working Models of helping relationships.

Driven by the different kinds of expectancies held within a young person's Internal Working Model, a range of different (increasingly ingrained and automatic) responses to distress and towards caregiving/authority figures emerge in attachment relationships; these are what are described by the different styles of attachment...

Attachment styles

• Do they seek proximity?

The reassurance of being close (using someone as your Secure Base), that allows them "space to think" (Mentalization) - this is typical of SECURE attachments

• Do they push away/drift off?

As if avoiding the stress of intimacy/feeling the sense of need that denies them the "space to think" - this is typical of DETACHED/DISMISSING attachments

• Do they anxiously cling and yet angrily reject at the same time?

As if torn between their neediness, and fury at being so needy, and mistrustful of what might be on offer - this is typical of ANXIOUS/AMBIVALENT/ENMESHED attachments

• Do they switch back and forth between these styles, in ways that seem disconnected, bizarre, unpredictable?

This is typical of DISORGANIZED attachments - this is the most worrisome presentation, the one most strongly associated with maltreatment or trauma, and most predictive of future psychopathologies.

IMPORTANT: Please note that an attachment style is NOT a diagnosis, or a pathology in itself - it is just a description of the style of relating to people and reacting to stress - in some settings one or other attachment style may be more adaptive than others, and there are plenty of very successful people who exhibit ambivalent or detached attachment styles. While there are a range of advantages for people classified as Securely attached, and disorganised attachment is very often a marker for other significant adaptive difficulties, it is important not to make too a concrete link between attachment style and "pathologies".

Development of Mentalizing within an attachment relationship.

Mentalization develops in children within their Attachment Relationships.

If a mother is able to respond "contingently" (i.e. with enough sensitive attunement to the demands of the baby's condition; see Contingencies for how this is carried into Cognitive Behavioural approaches) and to apply Marked mirroring of her baby's mental state, then repeated experiences of this:

"Another mind that seems to understand and find ways to describe and respond to my experiences!"

...helps to build a sense of self, and of self-agency:

"There is an "I" [I can see this represented in her face], and this "I" finds itself in different states [happy, sad, frightened, hungry, hurting, surprised - which I can see her mimicking to me in ways that fit how I feel], and this "I" can operate upon the world it somewhat predictable ways [I find I can change things about the world, and me, by calling out, moving, and thinking differently]...")

...and "thinking differently" here might refer to "thinking about thinking", or starting to "take a meta-perspective upon thoughts and feeling" - which is really the birth of Mentalization.