Attachment, Trauma and the Circle of Security...

Caption : Father and son - baby- father - child - family - son 

URL: https://pixabay.com/en/father-and-son-baby-father-child-1153919/ 

Bob Marvin, Ph.D., from The University of Virginia and a Director of the Ainsworth Attachment Clinic and the COS network, presented at Liberty University, the topic on attachment, as affected by trauma, using the Circle of Security as an intervention to this association. The circle of Security (Marvin, Cooper, Hoffman & Powell, 2002) was used to develop a user-friendly model to teach parents their roles as attachment figures and what children expect from them to develop that healthy attachment style. By using Brady (2002)’s comic images of the story of rose, Dr. Marvin explained how a child could feel down (depletion of his power cells), goes to his parent (the recharger), gets affection using the example of a hug (the process of recharging), and then when ready sends a sign to the parent (the fully charged indicator wiggle). This illustration recaps the concept of guiding the infant from a state of distress to the ability to move to and fro from the perceived secure base or safe haven.

What I was intrigued with was the application of the circle of Security to the relationship Christians perceive to have with God. Research has shown that God has been a figure of attachment to some Christians, and has been described as a safe haven, a provider, true friend, to name a few (Counted, 2016). Granqvist and Kirkpatrick (2008) listed the criteria for an attachment figure, which includes maintaining proximity to the individual, acting as a safe base, responding quickly to loss or separation and being perceived as stronger and/or wiser. This provides evidence that any individual who meets this criterion can be perceived as an attachment figure, enhancing a healthy attachment style with a child, while providing an atmosphere for heathy emotional regulation to be learned by the infant.

This is important for counselors to know. Clients who have not had that opportunity to learn how to regulate their emotions appropriately could come to counseling expecting that same unhealthy environment. It is our responsibility to create an atmosphere where they can develop adequate skills to help them develop emotional regulation skills and tolerate distress appropriately–an atmosphere of empathy, unconditional positive regard and congruence. By creating that example of a safe place, the client can learn that not all individuals and subsequent interactions are negative, that they are not to be blamed for what they went through as children, and that they have new opportunities to develop new healthy attachments. Counselors can also use this model to help teach parents and caregivers to develop the ability to pick up early cues and respond appropriately to the needs of children.

References:

Brady, P. (2002, January 21). Rose is Rose [Cartoon comic]. Retrieved from

            http://www.gocomics.com/roseisrose/2002/01/21

Counted, V. (2016). God as an Attachment Figure: A Case Study of the God Attachment

            Language and God Concepts of Anxiously Attached Christian Youths in South

            Africa. Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health,18(4), 316-346.

            doi:10.1080/19349637.2016.1176757

Granqvist, P., & Kirkpatrick, L. A. (2008). Attachment and religious representations and

            behavior. In J. Cassidy & P. R. Shaver (Eds.), Handbook of attachment: Theory,

research, and clinical applications (2nd ed., pp. 906–933). New York: Guilford.

Marvin, R., Cooper, G., Hoffman, K., & Powell, B. (2002). The Circle of Security project:

            Attachment-based intervention with caregiver-pre-school child dyads. Attachment &

            Human Development, 4(1), 107–124