If a secure attachment is badly disrupted similar problems follow. This can occur, for example, if a caregiver gets depression or is sporadically unwell, or dies. The consequences of this can be serious in terms of the emotional development of the child and many of the psychological and emotional ills
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An insecure attachment means there is no emotional bond between child and parent in adult life.
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Jim
the foetus is conscious of what is happening outside the womb
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Jim
Fear is now seen as one of the prominent emotions experienced by the foetus. Modern research also suggests that an anxious child has a larger amygdala (fear centre) than others, and while this does appear to be true of prenates, increased cortisol (stress hormone) in the mother also affects the
Memories for children in the womb are encoded in their cells
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Jim
The foetus is unprotected from external negative stimuli, such as any traumatic event or experience to which the mother is exposed. When we realise that constant rowing between parents is as traumatic for a child as a serious road accident or a natural disaster for an adult, how much more
A child’s empathy can be destroyed if the child is not nurtured
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Jim
Anne Thurston, Associate Professor in John Hopkins University and Director of the Grassroots China Initiative, visited a Chinese orphanage in the 1990s and found the children there lying silent, withdrawn and immobile. She gives a chilling description of the orphanage and of the ‘dying’ room attached to it. The child
Some of the symptoms shown by a young child separated from a parent
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Jim
Psychiatrists have specific benchmarks in diagnosing the child’s anxiety when they are separated from their parents (called attachment figures in psychological terminology). When three or more of the following criteria (at the time of writing) are present (plus some other conditions) they label it as a ‘disorder’ – 1. Recurrent
Adults also have insecure attachment types
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Jim
Some adults who have suffered such distress as a child often say they feel they were adopted. How sad is that! It should be mentioned that adults have corresponding attachment or personality types, which are labelled secure, anxious-preoccupied, dismissive-avoidant and fearful-avoidant. Research shows that about 40% of adults have insecure
A child’s behaviour can show symptoms of an insecure attachment
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Jim
Attachment types can be seen in a child’s behaviour. Some years ago RTE Television presented a programme on attachment involving a large group of children, who were scrutinised by a psychologist, where the type of attachment of each child was clearly evident. Bowlby divided attachment into three types, secure, fearful
The nature of our attachments to our caregivers dictates how our adult life will be
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Jim
It is difficult to believe that childhood largely dictates how our adult life will be. The seeds are sown from very early childhood before conscious memory begins, and, therefore, in a counselling setting it can take months for the adult to make the connections between childhood and adulthood. It can
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