Attachment and Neuroscience
Attachment Theory
Attachment behaviour is defined as:
The seeking of protection when anxious
which is triggered by external threats or
behaviours
The person to whom a child is attached
provides a secure base, a place of safety,
warmth and comfort
Attachment Theory
A securely attached child feels confident that should
they feel anxious, their parents will respond. Such
security is brought on by interactions which are:
• Sensitive
• Regularly available and reliable
• Warm
• Responsive
• Consistent
Way attachment develops
need
relaxation
trust
security
attachment
satisfy
need
arousal - relaxation cycle
high
arousal
Secure and insecure attachment
“A securely attached child is likely when faced with potentially
alarming situations .... to tackle them effectively or seek help
in doing so”
Children whose needs have not been adequately met see the
world as;
‘comfortless and unpredictable and they respond by either
shrinking from it or doing battle with it.’
Bowlby (1980) Attachment and loss Vol. 3 and Bowlby (1973) Attachment and loss Vol. 2
Insecure Avoidant
• Caregiver subtly or overtly reject child’s attachment
needs at time of stress
• Bids for comfort will be rebuffed
• Child keeps his/her attention directed away from their
caregivers in an effort not to arouse anxiety and
frustration
• In control because of the need for self reliance
• Comfort self rather than accept it from others
Insecure Ambivalent/Anxious
 Caregiver will be inadequate at meeting child
attachment needs (caregiver is passive, unresponsive
and ineffective)
 Child’s strategy is to amplify attachment needs and
signals in an effort to arouse a response (verbal and
behavioural: bubbly affection to rage, anger, panic and
despair. All experienced as controlling)
 Unlovable and helpless selves & unpredictable and
withholding others.
Insecure Disorganised
 Child experiences the carer giver as ‘the source of alarm
and its only solution’.
 Child in these circumstances is unable to be guided by
their mental model of the world because it offers few
directions.
 Frightened, helpless, fragile and sad
 At risk of mental health problems or anti-social behaviour
In Essence…
 Attachment needs are activated during times
of perceived stress (discomfort,
environmental, danger, fatigue, illness)
 The child must either have these attachment
needs met or find other ways to cope.
Adolescent attachment styles
Compulsive self-reliance
Distrusts relationships, avoids being rejected or relied upon. Prone
to depression or psychosomatic symptoms.
Compulsive care giving
Actively involved in relationships but always as a care giver. Own
parents unable to provide care but might have demanded it from
child.
Care-seeking
Vigilant to signs of loss or abandonment. Constantly anxious.
Parents probably unresponsive or threatened to leave family.
Angry withdrawal
Generalised anger towards attachment figure who is seen as
unavailable.
Positive brain development
The way a child is stimulated shapes the brain’s
neurobiological structure. Experience has a direct
impact on a child’s capacity for living, learning and
relating as a social being.
Early Brain Development
We are born with most of the neurons (brain cells) we will ever own but;
 At
birth the brain is 25% of its adult weight - by the age of 2
this has increased to 75% and by age 3 it is 90% of adult
weight.
 This growth is largely the result of the formation and ‘hard
wiring’ of synaptic connections
 Babies brains are both ‘experience expectant’ and
‘experience dependent’
Proliferation of synapses
The Learning Years: 5-10
• Synaptic pathways that are regularly used are reinforced.
This is the basis of learning. Reinforcement leads to
permanent neurological pathways.
• Neural connections needed for abstract reasoning are
developed
• Motor skills are refined
Adolescent Brain Development
• Brain development continues up to at least the age of 20
• There is a significant remodelling of the brain in
adolescence, particularly the frontal lobes and
connections between these and the limbic system
• The frequency and intensity of experiences shapes this
remodelling as the brain adapts to the environment in
which it is functioning and becomes more efficient
Emotional Functioning
• There is a mismatch between emotional and cognitive
regulatory modes in adolescence
• Brain structures mediating emotional experiences
change rapidly at the onset of puberty
• Maturation of the frontal brain structures underpinning
cognitive control lag behind by several years
• Adolescents are left with powerful emotional responses
to social stimuli that they cannot easily regulate,
contextualise, create plans about or inhibit
Impact of trauma
 In the face of interpersonal trauma, all the systems of
the social brain become shaped for offensive and
defensive purposes. A child growing up surrounded
by trauma and unpredictability will only be able to
develop neural systems and functional capabilities
that reflect this disorganisation.
Source: National CAMHS Support Service, Everybody’s Business
Traumatic stress
When children and young people experience persistent stress
they are likely to produce toxic amounts of cortisol which can
have a detrimental effect on
Brain function
All major body systems
Social functioning
Over production of stress hormones
These functions may be diminished or lost:
 Ability to learn language and to speak
 Understanding feelings or having words to describe them
 Connection between how we feel and our sensory
experience
 Empathy
 Control of impulse
 Regulation of mood
 Short term memory
 Enjoyment