attachment theory, affect regulation and grounding
TRANSCRIPT
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.
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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.
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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.
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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.
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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.
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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).
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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.
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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.
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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)
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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)
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 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)
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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).
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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)
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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)
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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.
• .
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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)
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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)
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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.
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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).
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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?
•
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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.
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
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.
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016
CONTACT DETAILSWebsite: www.calmground.com
The website includes a photo gallery of
calming natural landscape photos that can be
viewed as a slide show.
COPYRIGHT MEGAN WILLIAMS 2016