 Separation Anxiety
The Theory of Attachment & Separation Anxiety.
The theory of attachment was originally developed by John Bowlby, a British psychoanalyst who was attempting to understand the intense distress experienced by infants who had been separated from their parents. Bowlby observed that separated infants would go to extraordinary lengths (e.g., crying, clinging, frantically searching) to prevent separation from their parents or to re-establish proximity to a missing parent.
Bowlby believed that these attachment behaviours, such as crying and searching, were adaptive responses to separation from with a primary attachment figure--someone who provides support, protection, and care. Because human infants, like other mammalian infants, cannot feed or protect themselves, they are dependent upon the care and protection of "older and wiser" adults.
According to Bowlby, the attachment system essentially "asks" the following fundamental question: Is the attachment figure nearby, accessible, and attentive? If the child perceives the answer to this question to be "yes," he or she feels loved, secure, and confident, and, behaviourally, is likely to explore his or her environment, play with others, and be sociable. If, however, the child perceives the answer to this question to be "no," the child experiences separation anxiety and, behaviourally, is likely to exhibit attachment behaviours ranging from simple visual searching on to active searching and crying. In such cases, Bowlby believed that young children experienced profound despair and depression.
So in many cases of adult depression a link can be seen relating to separation anxiety, examples would be:
- Parental neglect
- Lack of Communication, a marital separation going unexplained
- Not being allowed to attend a parents funeral (deemed too young)
- Change in surroundings – foster care, new home, new school
- Loss of a loved one
- Over-protective parent
The Therapy: The presenting issue will be dealt with in a relaxed initial consultation which will allow for all aspects of the therapeutic process to be discussed and all questions answered openly, fully and confidentially.
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Lo-Call in Ireland: 1890-273-273 or email therapy@descanning.com to book an assessment consultation.
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