Summary Of The Psychodynamic Approach To Parent Child Bonding

Childhood development is an essential aspect to the individual and can have a lasting impact. Research indicates that a person can be affected by their environment, like their mother’s actions, as early as in utero. Once the child is born, the relationship with the child to their parent, especially, the mother, is vital. The infant is introduced to their unknown environment through their parent. In attempting to understand the parent child relationship, theorists have taken different approaches. The psychodynamic approach to parent-child bonding is based on the work of Mahler, the Biological-Ethological Theories of Bowlby and Ainsworth, and Harlow’s Learning Theories. Margaret Mahler, a Hungarian physician, who became a psychoanalyst with
The parent and child have a relationship of reciprocity. John Bowlby theorized the importance of attachment by the age of three as it impacts the individual throughout their lives. The damage that develops from not forming an attachment is irreversible. Parent child bonding is the foundation for the child to bond with anyone else. Ainsworth formed the methodology to test Bowlby’s theory but also expanded it. The Stranger Paradigm creates an opportunity observe the different forms of attachment a caregiver and child can develop. Ainsworth emphasized the quality and nature of the attachment. Typically, the attachment is between mother and child. The attachment theory defines four types of attachment. Group B is categorized as a secure attachment, which is the most common, is based on trust. The child knows that they can trust the mother to be there to satisfy their needs. In the study, the child seeks their mother for support and, in times of distress, can be soothed by the mother. Once soothed, the young child will return to exploration feeling secure. Insecure attachments are divided into (Group C) ambivalent and (Group A) avoidant. While the child may understand that their mother or caregiver loves them, their need for support is not always meet. Insecure avoidant attachment is marked by the parent’s unavailability. Since the child understands that their needs will not be meet, they do not seek the mother for comfort. In the mother’s absence, the child will self-stimulant for security. The insecure attachment-ambivalent, the caregiver is not attuned to the needs of the child. The bond is strained due the mother misreading the child’s cues or overstimulating the baby. When the mother is absent, the child becomes distressed yet, when she reappears the child becomes passive and does not return to explore. The