What is the attachment system
The attachment system is an innate motivational system, which fulfills a protective function. It is exercised through the active search for closeness to a member of one’s own species.
This system has evolved in birds and mammals with the function of protecting the individual not only from environmental dangers but also from other forms of vulnerability. For example, from the inability to get food alone to loneliness and painful situations of all kinds.
In humans and in a few other species this system performs its function of requesting help and comfort from their conspecifics throughout their life. However, it operates with maximum intensity during the early stages of existence. In a mirror-like manner, the attachment signals activate the nurturing system that prompts a conspecific to provide a response of closeness and comfort.
First relationships and attachment
In the human species each person develops, starting from early childhood, a style of their own request for help and care .
This style is modeled according to the different responses given to the child by the person who usually takes care of him, that is, by the attachment figure (otherwise called the caregiver ).
Empirical research has identified three styles of behavior (known as organized attachment patterns ) and a condition of attachment disorganization .
The empirical observation situation that allowed to delineate these styles is called “ Strange situation ” (Ainsworth et al, 1978). A child, between 12 and 18 months, is accompanied by an attachment figure into a room where he has never been before. Here you will find toys, a chair and, later, a stranger.
We observe how the child interacts with the attachment figure , the toys and the stranger. The attachment figure then leaves the room, closing the door behind him. At this point the reaction of the child is observed. After a maximum of 3 minutes the attachment figure returns to the room and invites the child to a hug. The child’s reaction to reunification is observed. The attachment figure sits back in the chair and the child’s interaction with it, with the environment and with the stranger is again observed.
Attachment styles
The first attachment style identified was called pattern A . This is characterized by a non-protest reaction to the caregiver ‘s departure. The child does not cry, does not seek the attachment figure. In the moment of reunion, he actively avoids it (does not accept the invitation to hug, continues to play or actively turns his back). For this characteristic it has been defined avoidant attachment style .
The pattern of attachment B is characterized by a lively protest the separation (crying, search of the figure of attachment and rejection of the stranger) and a ready cheer at the time of return and reunion, accepting the hug and finding comfort. This pattern has been termed secure attachment .
In pattern C the child protests strongly at the moment of separation, but appears inconsolable at the moment of the meeting. While in the arms of the attachment figure, she may continue to cry or react with screams and anger, actively resisting the caregiver ‘s comforting gestures . This style has been called resistant attachment .
Disorganized attachment
A fourth attachment pattern was identified (Main, Solomon, 1986) and was found to be present in a high percentage of children. These are those who are unable to organize a coherent and unitary style of attachment during the first year of life. The resulting condition is called disorganized attachment .
The other styles maintain a certain coherence in behavior (avoidance or maintenance of a certain distance in pattern A, active and sure search for closeness in pattern B and search for closeness followed by resistance to comfort in C). In this case, on the other hand, an organization cannot be identified in the behavior towards the attachment figure.
Children with pattern D at the time of reunion with the attachment figure may exhibit inconsistent behavior. They may move towards the attachment figure with their eyes turned away or make quick changes of direction in the opposite direction. They may manifest fear (such as immobilization, scared facial expressions) or confusion (blank gaze, disorientation).
Causes of disorganized attachment
The data collected show that attachment disorganization is strongly correlated with the presence of unresolved grief or trauma in the caregiver’s memory (Main, Hesse, 1990). The correlation is also strong between the disorganization of attachment in the child and the mental states of the caregiver characterized by hostility and helplessness ((Lyons-Ruth et al., 2005).
It has been hypothesized that attachment figures can cause fear in the child while caring for him, through openly aggressive attitudes (usually linked to traumatic memories) even violent becoming openly frightening. Fear can also be induced by a frightened attitude of the caregiver , who may unknowingly express fear (related to their painful memories). He loses the communicative tune and becomes indirectly frightening.
In disorganized attachment , therefore, the attachment figure represents both a source of protection and danger for the child. It causes a state of fear that cannot be solved either in distancing or approaching behaviors. The behavior then becomes disorganized.
Disorganized attachment and psychopathology
This disorganization manifests itself as a disorganized combination of incompatible behaviors in the experience of oneself with the other. It is intuitive that it can potentially predispose to disturbances in the state of consciousness in adulthood (Liotti, 1992; Liotti, 2001).
The instability of the behavior of the attachment figure, both caring and frightening-frightening, in fact leads the child to form multiple and incoherent representations of himself and the other. This can play an important role in disorders such as depersonalization and derealization , also frequent in phobic-anxious states. For example, Panic Disorder with or without agoragobia or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder .
Even in eating disorders , in disorders due to use of substances and Somatoform Disorders disorganization of attachment can exercise an important influence. Finally, it can play a role in Mood Disorders .
Finally, in Personality Disorders , especially in Borderline Disorder , the early experiences of attachment disorganization can condition the psychopathological core. In particular, they affect the difficulty in recognizing and regulating one’s emotions and the multiple and incoherent representation of oneself (Liotti, 1999)
