My two previous blogs looked at theories and research into attachment between children and their care-givers over the past 80 years or so. This blog looks at adults and attachment. It was not until the mid-1980's that researchers began to take seriously the possibility that attachment processes may still be…
John Bowlby's Research What is meant by "attachment" and does it matter? Attachment is an emotional bond to another person. Psychologist John Bowlby working in the UK in the 1940s, believed that the earliest bonds formed by children with their caregivers have a tremendous impact that continues throughout life. According…
Most people would agree that experiences that we have had in childhood (both good and bad) can have a lasting effect on us throughout our adult lives. But what can we learn from scientific research about this? This article looks at the well known large scale Adverse Childhood Experience studies…
Did you have a happy childhood? As an adult, we’re often taught to look back on our childhood with nostalgia and happy thoughts, back to innocent and carefree times. Childhood is coined as the time where we learn who we are, and where secure attachments are formed with caregivers. It’s…
Does love matter? Are the emotional needs of children important? How we are treated as babies and toddlers determines the way in which what we're born with turns into what we are. According to Sue Gerhardt, in her excellent book “Why Love Matters”, “The kind of brain that each baby…
