Trauma and disorganization. On the clinical relevance of attachment research: A theoretical overview with implications for applied clinical psychology

Abstract

The emotional availability of a primary caregiver ranks among the most fundamental and vital factors of human physical and psychic development. In his tripartite compendium “Attachment and Loss” (1969,1973,1980), the British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby explicitly emphasized this social dimension of ontogeny. The present article aims to systematize the importance of early organized patterns of attachment and their broader implications for normal and pathological human development. On the ground of the premises of attachment theory and recent findings of attachment research, security of attachment may be defined as crucial precondition for psychosomatic stability, whereas insecurity and disorganization of attachment are increasingly identified as risk factors for psycho-physical health. The potential sources such as maternal depression, deprivation, sexual abuse, parental conflict or divorce, etc. and possible consequences of infant trauma and disorganization are discussed.

Keywords:
Attachment Theory, internal working models, patterns of attachment, trauma, disorganization, depression, deprivation, abuse, conflict.