ATTACHMENT THEORY, AFFECT REGULATION AND GROUNDING ...

ATTACHMENT THEORY, AFFECT REGULATION AND GROUNDING:

APPLICATIONS FOR FAMILY THERAPY.

PRESENTER: MEGAN WILLIAMS M.PSYCH (COUNSELLING) LA TROBE.

PSYCHOLOGIST IN PRIVATE PRACTICE AND AUTHOR.

AIMS

• Review Attachment Theory - secure and insecure styles between

parents and children.

• Relate Attachment Styles to family members’ capacity for Affect

Regulation.

• Explore the use of Grounding strategies by family therapists and

clients to promote Affect Regulation within and between family

members.

COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016

WHAT IS ATTACHMENT?

• Attachment is a biological system in which the immature brain of the infant uses the

more mature brain of the care-giver to organize its own mind with respect to:

• affect regulation

• social relatedness

• memory

• motivation (Siegel, 2012).

• Repeated attachment experiences firstly become encoded in implicit memory, and

then develop into mental models of attachment, which can continue into adulthood.


WHY IS ATTACHMENT IMPORTANT?

• An individual’s repertoire of stress coping strategies is

directly affected by the attachment relationship…” (Schore,

2003, p.207)

• Quality of Attachment impacts on a child’s development and

capacity to function adaptively both through self and

interpersonal regulation.


COMPONENTS OF ATTACHMENT

• Inter-subjectivity : A direct dyadic experience which involves shared affect

attunement, attention and intentions. Communication mostly non-verbal with eyes,

voice, movement, and matching intensity (Hughes, 2004).

• Affect Regulation: The mechanisms by which emotions and their expression are

modulated.(Siegel, 2012)

• Self Organization: The process by which the developing brain organizes itself

during emotional situations. This process is dyadic.


SECURE ATTACHMENT

• Affect attunement by the care-giver allows the child to experience

positive emotional states and modulate negative states and provides

a safe haven when an infant is distressed. (Siegel, 2012)

• As the child grows they also develop beliefs that their needs are

important and their goals are achievable.

• Secure attachment in adulthood is positively associated with affect

regulation, social relatedness, access to autobiographical memory,

and the development of self-reflection. COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016

AVOIDANT ATTACHMENT

• Parents emphasize independence in the child and use distancing strategies when

the child is distressed (eg. poor eye contact, wincing and arching away). (Schore,

2003)

• As a result of the child being denied a safe haven they are left alone with their

emotional distress. The child minimizes need for interpersonal affect regulation and

may focus on toys (Ogden et. al., 2006). This coping strategy may be best option

available.

• As adults they tend to be self-regulating and withdraw under stress. They may also

be rigid and controlling and dismissive of emotions.


AMBIVALENT ATTACHMENT

• Care giver provides inconsistent attunement and unpredictable and intrusive

behavior based on their own needs (Ogden et. al., 2006)..

• Ambivalently attached infants are inconsolable because they do not get responses

based on their own needs. Children tend to become overly responsive to parental

needs at their own expense. This coping strategy may be most adaptive for the

child.

• Poor affect regulation may dominate over goal driven actions. Escalating distress is

intended to solicit care giving. (Allen, 2001, cited in Howell, 2011).

Empathy/Shaming effects outcome.


DISORGANIZED ATTACHMENT

• Creation of contradictory attachment – seeking and defense states in the child in

response to unregulated fear created by the care-giver’s behaviours. Dissociation

may become best defensive strategy.

• A parent may be frightening (eg. looming, mocking) or frightened (eg. trance-like

expression, fearful voice). Extreme levels of arousal may be created in the child (eg.

too high in abuse and too low in neglect)

• Adults may develop a dissociative disorder (Liotti, 1992) or be prone to aggressive

behavior (Lyons-Ruth & Jacobvitz, 1999 cited in Ogden et. al., 2006).


PARENTS’ ATTACHMENT WITH OWN FAMILY OF ORIGIN

• The capacity of the person to reflect on their experience predicts attachment security

better than the facts of their personal history (Wallin, 2007)

• The parents’ attachment style predicts their infant’s attachment style, suggesting a

source of intergenerational transmission (Howell, 2011)

• Parents with unresolved trauma or early loss are likely to have their attachment

system activated along with their care-giving system. This may lead to strong

emotions such as anger or fear.

• Use of Genograms - helps parents to reflect on attachment patterns in their

FOO and understand their own parenting style.


AFFECT REGULATION

• Affects begin in infants as experiences of bodily states (eg. Posture &

Movement). (Schore, 2003)

• These bodily states remain important into adulthood and influence

affect - Bottom Up Vs Top Down Processing (Siegel, 2012).

• Affect regulation allows for positive relatedness with others. It also

improves overall functioning including capacity to learn, try new

experiences, and be an effective parent.


ATTACHMENT STYLE AND AFFECT REGULATION

AVOIDANT

Parent avoids child’s emotional

states (esp. negative states) and

encourages independence.

Child may use control to

manage distress and conduct

issues may occur.

Power struggles may result due

to child and parent wanting

control.

(Hughes, 2004).

AMBIVALENT

Parent focused on own needs

and can be intrusive or

unavailable at times.

Social anxiety may result from

child trying to predict and meet

others’ needs.

Poor impulse control, shame and

anger also created by mis-

attunement.

(Howell, 2011)

DISORGANIZED

Parent unable to provide

attachment and may be

frightening and/or frightened.

Conduct problems may result

from rage at the parent.

A child may also present as

numb to avoid distress. A child

may also hide or close eyes to

feel safe.

(Howell, 2011)


AFFECT REGULATION AND THERAPY

• Interactive regulation in a therapeutic relationship can alter insecure

attachment patterns to create earned security. The promotion of affect

regulation is now seen as vital in most forms of psychotherapy

(Schore, 2003).

• Dunedin Longitudinal Study found Self – control factor was predictive

of later violent behaviour in 3-5 yr olds (Predict My Future: The

Science of Us: SBS, 2016)


WHAT IS GROUNDING?

• Grounding is an action or serious of actions which assist a

person to regulate distressing affective states. Grounding

can involve both orientation to the environment and one’s

own body as means to regulate emotional states (Williams,

2012)


THE ROLE OF GROUNDING IN THERAPY

• Grounding helps give clients a sense of their capacity for

change through using simple techniques.

• These experiences can be shared by therapists, parents,

and children as they are easily understood.

• Grounding is evidence – based (Ogden et. al., 2006).


GROUNDING AND THE CONNECTION BETWEEN BODY AND MIND

Information From Our Body

• Our Breathing (deep/shallow/stop breathing)

• Heart beating (regular vs fast)

• Muscle tension (eg. shoulders hunched)

• Our Body as it moves (eg. pacing)


GROUNDING AND THE CONNECTION BETWEEN BODY AND MIND

Information From Our Senses

• Sound (loud noise vs soothing music)

• Sight (benign or overwhelming)

• Smell (evoking positive or negative memories)

• Touch (soft or hard)

• Taste (eg. strong mint)


EXAMPLES OF GROUNDING

• THE SOUND OF MUSIC - The process of listening to and creating

music is one of the purest expressions of emotion and is both a

subjective and interpersonal experience.

• SINGING IN A GROUP can be emotionally regulating and can create

positive affect in children and adults. Singing has been used widely

including in Asylum Detention Centres, with children with disabilities

and with the homeless.

• .


EXAMPLES OF GROUNDING

• MOVEMENT - Walking, yoga, circus skills, and horse riding have all

been used with adults and children to assist with managing the impact

of trauma or anxiety.

• FOR AGGRESSIVE RESPONSES – put 1 hand on abdomen and 1

hand on heart and pay attention to shifts in sensation. This method

has been used with violent inmates to slow down emotional

responses and provides an alternative action which is potentially

calming (Sinclair 2001 cited in Ogden et al 2006)


USE OF GROUNDING IN FAMILY THERAPY

• Grounding - to improve parental coping in response to their own or their child’s

affective states. Children and adolescents also need to learn Grounding strategies.

Families may develop more capacity to listen when not overwhelmed by own affects.

• Therapists need to model grounding to children and parents. This requires a

therapist to use Grounding skills in their own life.

• Problematic behaviours can result from an inability to self regulate or get assistance

from another (eg. self – harm, violence, substance abuse and gambling (Van der

Hart et. al. 2006)


EVOKE, ENACT AND EMBODY• Clients who wont or can’t articulate their own dissociated or disavowed experience

will either:

• Evoke it in others

• Enact it with others

• Embody it. (Wallin, 2007)

• Children are often the emotional “Flagwavers” in a family system and may be

labelled the “problem”.

• Therapists need to be aware of countertransference and own attachment history to

manage their own responses.


PITFALLS FOR THERAPISTS

• Client Resistance - fear of unhelpful response by therapist (Wallin, 2007). Speaking

for a child or parent can be used to help when client can’t voice their thoughts/

feelings (Hughes, 2004)

• Interpretations by Therapists can also serve as resistance to affective attunement

with clients (Schore, 2003). Therapist needs to communicate Playfulness,

Acceptance, Curiosity and Empathy (Hughes, 2005).

• Progress can lead to anxiety and “mucking up”. The meaning given (empathy/anger)

can determine what happens next (Hughes, 2005).


CASE EXAMPLE

• Couple with marital issues are struggling to parent their child (Daughter 6yr). Mo

expresses anger at child (eg. for taking too long to go to bed or get ready for

school). Dau asks for apology for anger but mo thinks not appropriate. Husband

avoidant of marital issues and also harsh with Dau. Note: Child brought up by

relative overseas from 1-4yr of age.

• Discuss how you would work with this family. What affects may parents be dealing

with? How might parents connect with daughter using Playfulness, Acceptance,

Curiosity and Empathy?

• What other factors would you address?

•


REFERENCES

• Howell, E. F. (2011). Understanding and Treating Dissociative Identity Disorder: A

Relational Approach. New York: Routledge.

• Hughes, D. A. (2004). An Attachment-Based Treatment of Maltreated Children and

Young People. Attachment and Development; Vol 6, pp. 263-278.

• Hughes (March, 2005) Dyadic Developmental Therapy for Attachment Disorders.

Melbourne: 2 day Workshop.

• Liotti, G. (1992). Disorganized/disorientated attachment and the etiology of the

dissociative disorders. Dissociation, 4. 196-204.

• Ogden, P., Minton., & Pain, P. (2006). Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor

Approach to Psychotherapy. New York; Norton.


REFERENCES CONT’D

• Schore, A. N. (2003). Affect Dysregulation and Disorders of the Self. New York:

Norton.

• Siegel, D. (2012). The Developing Mind. New York: The Guilford Press.

• Van der Hart, O., Nijenhuis, E.R.S., Steele, K. (2006). The Haunted Self: Structural

Dissociation and the Treatment of Chronic Traumatisation. New York: Norton.

• Wallin, D. J. (2007). Attachment in Psychotherapy. New York; Guildford Press.

• Williams, M. (2012) Calm Ground: Grounding Tools to Help You Feel Safe and Solid

in the Present. Melbourne: Self-Published.


CONTACT DETAILSWebsite: www.calmground.com

The website includes a photo gallery of

calming natural landscape photos that can be

viewed as a slide show.


http://www.calmground.com/

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