DISORGANIZATION, FEAR AND ATTACHMENT: WORKING TOWARDS CLARIFICATION
Authors
Publication Date
2018-01Journal Title
Infant Mental Health Journal
ISSN
0163-9641
Publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
Volume
39
Issue
1
Pages
17-29
Language
English
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Duschinsky, R. (2018). DISORGANIZATION, FEAR AND ATTACHMENT: WORKING TOWARDS CLARIFICATION. Infant Mental Health Journal, 39 (1), 17-29. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21689
Abstract
In 1990, M. Main and J. Solomon introduced the procedures for coding a new “disorganized” infant attachment classification for the Ainsworth Strange Situation procedure (M.D.S. Ainsworth, M. Blehar, E. Waters, & S. Wall, 1978). This classification has received a high degree of interest, both from researchers and from child welfare and clinical practitioners. Disorganized attachment has primarily been understood through the lens of E. Hesse and M. Main's concept of “fright without solution,” taken to mean that an infant experiences a conflict between a desire to approach and flee from a frightening parent when confronted by the Strange Situation. Yet, looking back, it can be observed that the way Hesse and Main's texts were formulated and read has generated confusion; there have been repeated calls in recent years for renewed theory and clarification about the relationship between disorganization and fear. Responding to these calls, this article revisits the texts that introduced the idea of fright without solution, clarifying their claims through articulating more precisely the different meanings of the term fear. This clarified account will then be applied to consideration of pathways to infant disorganized behaviors.
Keywords
attachment, disorganization, fear, rejection, dysregulation
Sponsorship
This research was made possible by an Investigator Award from the Wellcome Trust (Grant WT103343MA) to the author.
Funder references
Wellcome Trust (103343/Z/13/A)
Embargo Lift Date
2100-01-01
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21689
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/265691