Who is John Bowlby? What is Attachment Theory? How does bonding work? What is bonding? All these questions and more will be answered here!
Born in 1907, John Bowlby was a British psychiatrist. He originally trained as a Freudian psychoanalyst. He is considered to be the father of attachment theory. He is known for his theory of attachment and his views on the importance of bonding. He was also known for three books that he wrote on loss and attachment.
Bowlby believed that if a child did not have a good attachment to an adult by the age of three, they were more likely to have abnormal behaviors or psychopathology later in life. Whereas, if they do have a strong attachment to an adult before the age of three, he believed they were then more likely to have a more normal social life later.
Likewise, Bowlby thought that if a child had a bond that was broken, this could also lead to psychopathology. When a bond is broken, he would refer to this as an object loss. You might be wondering about the term “object” in an object loss. Bowlby used the term object to refer to the target of a child’s love or affection.
In the process of forming an attachment, the adult would bring relief to the child, often through holding or feeding. Bowlby referred to this adult as the “releaser stimulus” as they were providing relief to the child.
Bowlby maintained a view that the mother should be the primary caregiver. The father’s role, he believed, was to provide for the mother, such as doing things like providing emotional support for her. He did not feel that the father should be as involved in the actual nurturing of the child.
At the time when Bowlby was first introducing his theory, these views that the mother should be the primary caregiver and the father not be as involved with the child, were overall accepted by many. Nowadays, this view is no longer accepted as widely as it was.
Bowlby believed that attachment begins in a child’s infancy. He thought that the importance of attachment isn’t just in childhood though, and that it continues to have a role for people throughout their lives.
In attachment theory, it is believed that the ability to have healthy attachments is a key factor in one’s personality development. Not only that, but aside from helping one interact with society and the larger social world in a more positive way, healthy attachments are believed to help a person better manage feelings of fear and worry, handle stress, and also tolerate feelings of frustration, amongst others.
They assert that strong attachment allows one to have a sense of stability and security in life. When people have stronger attachments, they are believed to be able to take more risks, have a larger capacity for personal growth, and have better interpersonal connections. As you can probably tell, attachment theory is prominent in the area of developmental psychology.
When we use the word attachment, this is referring to a psychological connection that two people have. However, attachment is strengthened by bonding. Generally, any nurturing behaviors are thought to be a form of bonding. This can include holding, rocking, feeding, singing, or kissing. But, it also includes things like a child’s time with the caregiver, having face-to-face interactions, eye contact, and being physically present with the caregiver.
As I mentioned, attachment theory is seen to be important in conceptualizing the therapeutic relationship. This is because the client’s ability to have a good relationship with the therapist is likely going to be influenced by their general ability to have healthy attachments.
At the same, the therapeutic relationship between the therapist and client can be a healing one. When there is a strong therapeutic relationship, this might help the client expand their ability to have stronger relationships outside of the therapeutic setting.
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