Gina Stepp: Beyond Attachment Theory

                                                                                         

John Bowlby's "Attachment Theory" has had a profound impact on every field related to the development of the mind for more than half a century. During a period when most psychiatrists believed nearly all neuroses could be traced to infantile sexuality: either through the Freudian emphasis on the Oedipus complex or the Kleinian focus on infantile fantasies, Bowlby's ideas at first seemed somewhat heretical. His burgeoning belief that the mind would not develop properly in the absence of strongly attached caregiver relationships seems elementary now, and is in this century being confirmed by neuroscience. But fifty years ago it won Bowlby a host of critics, despite the fact that it was based on actual observations of children separated from their parents.

Bowlby himself came from an upper-middle class English family where nursemaids and a governess minded the children. Not an uncommon arrangement in his day, but perhaps his own experience provoked his 1940 supposition that "If it became a tradition that small children were never subjected to complete or prolonged separation from their parents in the same way that regular sleep and orange juice have become nursery traditions, I believe that many cases of neurotic character development would be avoided." (Bowlby 1940a).

For Bowlby and subsequent adherents to attachment theory, human psychological development, resistance to depression and other such disorders, even survival itself, depends on the quality of our relationships with others. And this lifelong interdependence begins at birth.

But could attachment begin even in the womb?

Studies from the relatively new field of prenatal psychology have begun to give credibility to long-held maternal convictions that preborn babies hear, learn from and respond to parental attention, and are affected by maternal emotions. If such findings continue to accumulate, could they explain the deep-seated drive some adopted children have to seek out their biological parents, even when they have healthy attachment to a surrogate family?

In any case, it may never be to early to begin laying the foundation for positive parent-child relationships.

About the author:
Gina Stepp is a writer and editor with a strong interest in education and the science that underpins family and relationship studies. She began working toward a Journalism major and Psychology minor at the University of Central Florida before moving to California where she completed her BA in Theology in 1985. To contact Gina Stepp, please email at ginastepp@earthlink.net.

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