Presented to the Child Development Initiative
By Sheila Hayes
Mar 31 2011
(c) 2009. Sheila Hayes: BA., H. Dip. Ed., Dip. Counselling, M. Ed. & Counselling, Member I.A.C.P. www.Attachment.ie
1

Clinical Counsellor since 1996

Member IACP

Masters in Educational Guidance and Counselling
from Trinity College
◦ Masters Dissertation on Attachment Theory
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
2

Ursula
◦ May have harsh unmodulated voice timbres, at variance with an imploring or
pleading look in their eyes.
◦ Beneath a self – sufficiency is a desire to be looked after.
◦ In essence all container and no feelings

Cliona
◦ The tone of voice is often rambling and monotonous and find it hard to come to
the point and to shape their story.
◦ Conversation is an attempt to maintain contact rather than to create dialogue.
◦ Beneath the clinging behaviour is rage and narcissism and a huge fear of losing
the secure base.
◦ In essence all feelings and no where to contain them.

Nick
◦
◦
◦
◦
Huge trust issues,
Extremely sensitive
‘Narcissistic’ needs,
Anxiety around rejection, control, ridicule and bullying
(All References Holmes, J., 2001)
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
3

Review of Infant Attachment
◦ John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
◦ Elements of Attachment Relationships
◦ Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation



Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
◦ Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
◦ Couple Love
◦ Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health



Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
4

Has always been a key question in
Psychoanalysis
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
5

Developed the Oedipus
Complex

Maintained Psychological
problems arose as a result
of lack of resolution of the
Oedipus Complex.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
6

Mother Child bond arose due
to feeding
◦ Kleinian Dependency Theory

Psychological problems arose
◦ Not from lack of resolution of the
Oedipus Complex
◦ But from the act of weaning

The Freud / Klein view of the
Mother-Child relationship was
predominant up to the 1960s
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
7

Konrad Lorenz

Studied goslings and ducklings
who fed themselves

Proposed that a bond could
develop without the intermediary
of food.

Developed the term Imprinting
◦ Where a duckling or gosling can
attach itself to almost anything (such
as a Wellington boot)

Received a Nobel prize in 1973
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
8

Review of Infant Attachment
◦ John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
◦ Elements of Attachment Relationships
◦ Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation



Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
◦ Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
◦ Couple Love
◦ Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health



Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
9

“The Nature of the Child’s Tie to
his Mother”
◦ A child’s psychological wellbeing is
heavily influenced by its relationship
to its Mother and Wider
Environment.
◦ To address psychopathologies,
these relationship have to be
addressed

This paper is the foundation
stone of what became
attachment theory
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
10

It was dominated by the Freud / Klein View

Uproar
◦ Received very critically
◦ He left the society

Was unable to effect change in how children were
treated in hospitals due to opposition
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
11

Review of Infant Attachment
◦ John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
◦ Elements of Attachment Relationships
◦ Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation



Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
◦ Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
◦ Couple Love
◦ Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health




Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources
Questions
References
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
12

Features of a healthy attachment relationship
◦ Secure Base
◦ Safe Haven
◦ Proximity Maintenance
◦ Separation Distress

See Circle of Security
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
13
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
14

Bowlby stated that even if there is a long
separation between the child and the mother after
the bond has been formed, the bond will still be
there and be recognisable in the child’s behaviour
towards the mother.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
15

A child has two unconscious working models (or
mental maps). They govern
◦ How the child views himself
◦ How he views the world

Development of the working models is determined
by the attachment relationship with his primary
carer

Models can be
◦ Positive
◦ Negative
◦ Multiple / Conflicting
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
16

Bowlby maintained these were at the roof of
Psychopathologies.

e.g. I’m afraid Dad will leave and I hope Dad will
leave

Bowlby posited that conflicting working models
were at the root of intergenerational Transmission
of Neurosis.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
17

Review of Infant Attachment
◦ John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
◦ Elements of Attachment Relationships
◦ Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation



Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
◦ Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
◦ Couple Love
◦ Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health



Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
18
Child’s Chair Heaped
with Toys
Stranger’s Chair
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
Mother’s Chair
19

Originally conducted in 1968 in Baltimore USA

100 Middle class children

Defined protocol
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
20
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
21

Identified Attachment styles
◦ One Secure
◦ Two Insecure
◦ One Uncategorised (13%)

Results have been replicated in dozens of studies
around the world since
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
22

Review of Infant Attachment
◦ John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
◦ Elements of Attachment Relationships
◦ Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation



Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
◦ Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
◦ Couple Love
◦ Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health



Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
23

Little known about it or whether attachment
existed into adulthood

Adult attachment seen as more complex and
difficult to measure

Thinking was that couples had to be studied

Realised that much of adult relationships exist in
the mind
◦ In how they think and feel about relationships

A lot of their relationships are invisible to an
outsider
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
24

Follow up longitudinal study in from 1979 to 1985
Berkeley to see the effect that parents had on the
Strange Situation
Mary Main believed that earlier experiences do not
just shape later behaviours they also shape a person’s
beliefs and expectations about relationships
Developed the Adult Attachment Interview protocol

Identified four attachment styles


◦ One secure
◦ Three Insecure

The adult styles were similar to the child styles.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
25

I'd like you to try to describe your relationship
with your parents as a young child if you could
start from as far back as you can remember?
◦ Encourage participants to try to begin by remembering very
early. Many say they cannot remember early childhood,
◦ but you should shape the questions such that they focus at
first around age five or earlier, and gently remind
◦ the research participant from time to time that if possible, you
would like her to think back to this age period.
◦ Admittedly, this is leaping right into it, and the participant may
stumble. If necessary, indicate in some way that
◦ experiencing some difficulty in initially attempting to respond to
this question is natural, but indicate by some
◦ silence that you would nonetheless like the participant to
attempt a general description.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
26

Now I'd like to ask you to choose five
adjectives or words that reflect your
relationship with your mother starting from as
far back as you can remember in early
childhood--as early as you can go, but say,
age 5 to 12 is fine. I know this may take a bit of
time, so go ahead and think for a minute...then
I'd like to ask you why you chose them. I'll
write each one down as you give them to me.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
27

Did you ever feel rejected as a young child? Of
course, looking back on it now, you may
realise it wasn't really rejection, but what I'm
trying to ask about here is whether you
remember ever having being rejected in
childhood
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
28


AAI assesses a person’s “state of mind with respect to
attachment” and not whether a person is “securely attached” to a
second person
The narrative is examined for material purposely expressed by
the individual and for material the individual is unaware of
◦ e.g., apparent incoherence and inconsistencies of discourse thereby
aiming to assess elements of the attachment representation which are
not conscious (working models are in the unconscious)


How the narrative is reported is as important as the narrative
itself as it reflects the state of mind with respect to attachment(
the AAI picks up on how we perceive relationships based on own
attachment experience)
The AAI is scored based on
◦ Descriptions of childhood experiences
◦ Language used in the interview
◦ The ability to give an integrated, believable account of experience and
their meaning
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
29

Adults assessed via the AAI are not considered
securely versus insecurely attached, but rather as
being in a secure state of mind with respect to
attachment

One person conducts and transcribes

Second person scores based purely on the
written transcript.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
30

Review of Infant Attachment
◦ John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
◦ Elements of Attachment Relationships
◦ Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation



Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
◦ Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
◦ Couple Love
◦ Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health



Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
31
Adult State of Mind With Respect
To Attachment
Secure/Autonomous
Coherent collaborative discourse.
Valuing of attachment, but seems
objective regarding any particular
event or relationship. Description and
evaluation of attachment-related
experience is consistent, whether
experiences are favourable or
unfavourable.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
Infant Strange Situation Behaviour
Secure
Explores room and toys with interest
in preseparation episodes. Show signs
of missing parent during separation,
often crying by second separation.
Obvious preference for parent over
stranger. Greets parent actively,
usually initiating physical contact.
32
Adult State of Mind With Respect
To Attachment
Dismissing
Not coherent. Dismissing of
attachment related experiences and
relationships. Normalising
(“excellent, very normal mother”),
with generalised representations of
history unsupported or actively
contradicted by episodes recounted.
Transcripts also tend to be
excessively brief.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
Infant Strange Situation Behaviour
Avoidant
Fails to cry on separation from parent.
Actively avoids and ignores parent on
reunion (i.e. by moving away, turning
away, or leaning our arms when
picked up). Little or no proximity
seeking, no distress and no anger.
Response to parent seems
unemotional. Focuses on toys or
environment throughout the process.
33
Adult State of Mind With Respect
To Attachment
Preoccupied
Not coherent. Preoccupied by past
attachment relationships/experiences,
speaker appears angry, passive or
fearful. Sentences often long,
grammatically entangled or filled
with vague usages (“dada,” “and
that”). Transcripts often excessively
long.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
Infant Strange Situation Behaviour
Resistant or ambivalent
May be wary or distressed prior to
separation, with little exploration.
Preoccupied with parent throughout
procedure; may seem angry or
passive. Fails to settle and take
comfort in parent on reunion, and
usually continues to focus on parent
and cry. Fails to return to exploration
after reunion.
34
Adult State of Mind With Respect
To Attachment
Infant Strange Situation Behaviour
Unresolved/disorganised
During discussions of loss or abuse,
individuals show striking lapse in the
monitoring or reasoning or discourse. For
example, individual may briefly indicate a
belief that a dead person is still alive in
the physical sense, or that this person was
killed by a childhood thought. Individual
may lapse into prolonged silence or
eulogistic speech.
Disorganised/disorientated
The infant displays disorganised and/or
disoriented behaviours in the parent’s
presence, suggesting a temporary collapse
of behavioural strategy. For example, the
infant may freeze with a trance-like
expression, hands in air; may rise at
parent’s entrance, then fall prone and
huddled on the floor; or may cling while
crying and leaning away with gaze
averted.

This work classified the third insecure style for children as
verbal responses of parents matched the behavioural
responses of the children in the unclassified 13%
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
35

Secure people are able to talk coherently about
their earlier experience even though that
experience was negative, they have integrated the
events with the feelings of that period – have
insight and ability to reflect (the main aim of
therapy is to help a person get insight to their
experience so integration can occur)

Ability to engage in meta cognition or to see one’s
situation objectively distinguishes secure from
insecure attachment experiences
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
36

Review of Infant Attachment
◦ John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
◦ Elements of Attachment Relationships
◦ Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation



Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
◦ Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
◦ Couple Love
◦ Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health



Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
37



The AAI is the only measure which has been used to examine
intergenerational transmission of attachment and the relations
between adult attachment status, parenting behaviour and child
outcome
Investigations of parental attachment classification and infant Strange
Situation find 80% correspondence
Parent – child studies in infancy: comparison of kibbutz – reared infants
who slept at home with their parents, and those who slept communally
found 76% correspondence between maternal AAI and child Strange
Situation for the home based dyads versus 40% for communal dyads


(Sagi, Aviezer et al., 1992)
Parent – child studies at school age: Mothers classified as secure were
warmer, more supportive, and smoother in transitioning between
activities than insecure mothers. Mothers classified as dismissing were
more abrupt in transitioning between activities than preoccupied
mothers. Observed child behaviour did not differ with respect to
maternal classification. However, ratings of behaviour and affective
symptoms by parents, teachers and the children revealed children of
dismissing mothers had the highest levels of pathology.

(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
(Crowell, O’ Connor, Wollmers, Sprafkin, & Rao, 1991)
38


Parental security of attachment was associated with
parents providing structure during the tasks
Secure fathers were warmer towards their
preschoolers
 (Cohn, Cowan, Cowan, & Pearson, 1992a)


Couples’ concordance for AAI and parenting style was
also examined: insecure women married to insecure
men were not as warm with their children as insecure
women married to secure men. There was no
difference between secure and insecure mothers who
were married to secure men.
Spousal support may be helpful to ‘insecure’ mothers
in interactions with their children.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
39

Review of Infant Attachment
◦ John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
◦ Elements of Attachment Relationships
◦ Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation



Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
◦ Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
◦ Couple Love
◦ Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health



Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
40




In 1987 Hazen & Shaver produced a seminal
study on romantic love
Pair - bond /romantic relationships assume the
role of attachment figures in adult life where the
partner becomes the secure base
There are four defining features of attachment
bonds: proximity maintenance, separation
distress, safe haven and secure base
Attachment in early life is asymmetrical - infants
seek and derive security from care givers but do
not give it in return, in pair bonds the care giving is
reciprocal
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
41

Striking similarities in the physical intimacy and
prolonged face to face contact between infant and
caregiver and in adult romantic partners

In almost every culture these intimate
interpersonal exchanges are limited to parent –
infant and pair bond relationships
 (Eibl – Eibesfeld, 1975).
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
42

Bowlby noticed that separated children who were well cared for
physically, showed striking similarities in how they responded to
separation

There was a universal pattern of behaviour which he referred to as
the “protest-despair-detachment” sequence

The same sequence of events can be seen in adults grieving for the
loss of a spouse (including relationship breakups):
◦ Initial anxiety and panic, followed by lethargy and depression and
eventually by recovery through emotional detachment

(Hazen & Shaver, 1992; Parkes & Weiss, 1983; Weiss, 1975)
◦ The loss is integrated in the inner world of the bereaved

Couples grieving for the loss of a child inevitably cannot provide a
secure base for the other as each are overcome with grief.
◦ This is one reason why divorce rates are so high after such a tragedy

(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
(Holmes, J., 2001)
43

Secure men engage in more positive and supportive
interactions with their spouses than do insecure men
 (Cohn, Cowan, Cowan, & Pearson, 1992b; Ewing & Pratt,
1995; Kobak & Hazen, 1992).

Secure college females in a stressful situation sought
and accepted more physical and emotional support
from their partners than insecure women
 (Simpson, Rholes, and Nelligan (1992)

Perhaps because secure men are disproportionately
likely to be partners of secure women
 (van Ijzendoorn & Bakermans – Kranenburg, 1996)

Secure men are more likely to be concerned for their
partners’ well being and to provide more emotional
support then insecure men
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
44

Where both partners were insecure there was
more conflict
 (Cohn et al. 1992b)

Lower levels of conflict and mutually focussed
strategies for managing conflict are found in
secure individuals
 (Pistole, 1989)

Security in the relationship sets the stage for
the development of a mutually rewarding
relationships as each partner can venture out
from the relationship and return back to the safe
haven
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
45


Working Models affect romantic relationships in
the following way:
Individuals tend to select environments that fit
their beliefs about self and others
◦ e.g. A Preoccupied (Resistant or Ambivalent in infants) female
and a Dismissing (Avoidant in infants) male are quite stable
although not very happy.
◦ The clingy anxious behaviour of the Preoccupied female
confirms the Dismissing male’s belief that it is unwise to
let others get too close,
◦ The Dismissing male confirms the Preoccupied female’s
belief that others are less concerned about love
relationships than she is.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
46

Review of Infant Attachment
◦ John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
◦ Elements of Attachment Relationships
◦ Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation



Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
◦ Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
◦ Couple Love
◦ Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health



Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
47

Secure
◦ People can draw on support from another person(s) via the secure base and talk coherently
about the issue

Insecure - Dismissing (Avoidant in infants)
◦ People will stay near to a protective one, but not too near for fear of rejection or aggression
◦ Intimacy is sacrificed in order that the affect is deactivated

Insecure - Preoccupied (Resistant or Ambivalent in infants)
◦ People have been subjected to inconsistent responses when distressed and so cling to the
care-giver even when no danger is present
◦ There is hyper activation of responses and exploration and autonomy are jettisoned in return
for security

Insecure - Unresolved / Disorganised (Disorganised / Disoriented in infants)
◦ Unresolved attachments have no coherent response for self protection
◦ Resort to defensive methods such as splitting, dissociation, role reversal and excessive
controllingness

Most patients with severe personality disorder show insecure patterns of
attachment in the AAI

(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
(J Holmes, 2001)
48


Securely attached individuals can deal with negative affect
Insecure - Dismissing (Avoidant in infants)
◦ In the Dismissing, self esteem is short- circuited within the self.
◦ External validation has little impact,
◦ Will do his best to be in control and to keep intimacy at bay as it threatens his self
containing system of maintaining self-esteem

Insecure - Preoccupied (Resistant or Ambivalent in infants)
◦ The Preoccupied depend on the proximity and the positive regard of the clung to
figure, if they are critical or lost the Preoccupied will suffer

Insecure - Unresolved / Disorganised
(Disorganised / Disoriented in infants)
◦ The Unresolved will try to control the care – giver

In the case of a couple who are both securely attached, this leads to
the development of a ‘third element’ which provides far greater security
than each member of the couple can achieve on their own
◦ This is the relationship itself and the pattern of mutual expectations that it implies
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
49

Review of Infant Attachment
◦ John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
◦ Elements of Attachment Relationships
◦ Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation



Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
◦ Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
◦ Couple Love
◦ Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health



Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
50

Freud’s (1912) ‘fundamental
rule’
◦ Say what ever comes into your
mind however impolite, irrelevant
or embarrassing’
◦ ‘if I could do that I wouldn’t need
to be here in the first place’.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
51

Previous Statement summarises the mutual
incompatibility of insecurity and exploration
◦ If some one is very insecure, they cannot examine their
insecurities

The aim of Attachment informed psychotherapy is
to assist a client feel secure enough so that they
can begin to explore
◦ Themselves
◦ Their life experiences and
◦ Their feelings – especially negative ones.
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
52





The aim of attachment – based therapy is to help bring
a client into a balanced position with regard to
themselves and the world
Clients seeking therapy fluctuate between the fear of
aloneness and at the same time the terror of intimacy
The therapist becomes the secure base providing
security, consistency, reliability, responsiveness,
warmth and firm boundaries
It is hoped that through this environment the client can
begin to trust and explore their relationships
The client can internalise this ‘secure base’ and draw
on it as a source of support after therapy
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
53

Ursula: Insecure – Dismissing
(Avoidant in infants)
◦ May have harsh unmodulated voice timbres, at variance with an imploring or
pleading look in their eyes.
◦ Beneath a self – sufficiency is a desire to be looked after.
◦ In essence all container and no feelings

Cliona: insecure – Preoccupied
(Resistant or Ambivalent in infants)
◦ The tone of voice is often rambling and monotonous and find it hard to come to
the point and to shape their story.
◦ Conversation is an attempt to maintain contact rather than to create dialogue.
◦ Beneath the clinging behaviour is rage and a huge fear of losing the secure base.
◦ In essence all feelings and no where to contain them.

Nick: Insecure – Unresolved / Disorganised
(Disorganised / Disoriented in
infants)
◦
◦
◦
◦
Huge trust issues,
Extremely sensitive
‘Narcissistic’ defenses
Anxiety around rejection, control, ridicule and bullying
(All References Holmes, J., 2001)
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
54

Insecure – Dismissing (Avoidant in infants)
◦ To provide the space which fosters attunement of feeling
for

Insecure – Preoccupied (Resistant or Ambivalent in infants)
◦ To provide the space secure enough to cope with
relevant protest and where new meanings and secure
narratives can arise

Insecure – Unresolved / Disorganised (Disorganised /
Disoriented in infants)
◦ To provide the safe space where emotions can be
contained, beliefs challenged, and links made
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
55

Review of Infant Attachment
◦ John Bowlby and the 1957 Paper
◦ Elements of Attachment Relationships
◦ Mary Ainsworth and the Strange Situation



Development of the Adult Attachment Interview
Attachment Styles
Implications and uses of Adult Attachment
◦ Intergenerational Transmission of Attachment Styles
◦ Couple Love
◦ Attachment Theory effect on Mental Health



Using Attachment Theory in Therapy
Resources & References
Questions
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
56

www.attachment.ie
◦ My website
◦ This presentation can be downloaded
◦ Other resources and videos

www.johnbowbly.com
◦ State University of New York at Stonybrook

www.circleofsecurity.org
◦ Background and material on the Circle of Security
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
57
Hazen, C., &Shaver, P. R. (1992). Broken attachments. In T. L. Orbuch (Ed.), Close relationship loss:
Theoretical approaches (pp. 90-108). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Bowlbys Three Books

1969: Attachment,
◦
(Updated 1982)

1972: Separation: Anxiety and
Anger

1980: Loss: Sadness and
Depression
Cassidy, J. & Shaver, P. R. Handbook of Attachment Theory. Research and Clinical Applications.
The Guildford Press. 1999. New York.
Cohn, D., Cowan, P., Cowan, C., & Pearson, J. (1992a). Mothers’ and fathers’ working models of
childhood attachment relationships, parenting style, and child behaviour. Development and
Psychopathology, 4, 417-431.
Cohn, D., Cowan, P., Cowan, C., &Pearson, J. (1992b). Working models of childhood attachment
and couples relationships. Journal of Family Issues, 13, 432-449.
Crowell, J., O’ Connor, E., Wollmers, G., Sprafkin, J., & Rao, U. (1991). Mothers’
conceptualisations of parent – child relationships: Relation to mother-child interaction and child
behaviour problems. Development and Psychopathology, 3, 431-444
Ewing, K., Pratt, M. (1995, March). The role of adult romantic attachment in martial
communication and parenting stress. Poster presented at teh biennial meeting of the Society for
Research in Child Development, Indianapolis, IN.
Feeney , J. A., & Noller, P. (1991). Attachment style and verbal descriptions of romantic partners.
Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 8, 187-215.
Holmes, J, The Search for the Secure Base. Attachment Theory and Psychotherapy. Routledge
2001, East Sussex.
Holmes, J, Exploring in Security. Towards and Attachment Influenced Psychoanalytic
Psychotherapy. Routledge 2010, East Sussex.
Simpson, J., Rholes, W., & Nelligan, J. (1992). Support seeking and support giving within couples
in an anxiety-provoking situation: The role of attachment styles. Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, 62, 434-446.
Main, M., (1995) recent studies in attachment; overview with selected implications for clinical
work. In S. Goldberg, R. Muir and J. kerr (eds) Attachment Theory: Social Developmental and
Clinical Perspectives. Hillsdale, NJ: Analytic Press.
Parkes, C. M., & Weiss, R. S. (1983). Recovery from bereavement. New York: Basic Books.
Pistole, M. (1989). Attachment in adult romantic relationships: Styles of conflict resolution and
relationship satisfaction. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 6, 505-510.
Sagi, A., van IJzendoorn, M., Koren – Karie, N., Joels, T., & Mayseless, O. (19940. Stability and
discriminant validity of the adult attachment Interview: A psychometric study in young Isreali
adults. Developmental Psychology, 30(5), 771 – 777
(c) 2011. Sheila Hayes: www.Attachment.ie
Weiss, R. S. (1975). Martial separation. New York: Basic Books.
Van IJzendoorn, M., Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. (1996). Attachment representation in mothers,
fathers, adolescents, and clinical groups: A meta-analytic search for normative data. Journal of
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Clinical and Consulting Psychology, 64, 8-21.
(c) 2009. Sheila Hayes: BA., H. Dip. Ed., Dip. Counselling, M. Ed. & Counselling, Member I.A.C.P. www.Attachment.ie
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