Bonding and Attachment

Paper Summary:

This paper describes and examines the process of natural bonding between mother and child that takes place when a baby is born and goes on to explain the various phases of attachment.

Outline:
What are the Phases of Attachment?
A Very Strange Situation: How does an infant cope with separation?
How are Bonding and Attachment seen in various stages of one's life?

From the Paper:

"As a mother looks at her newborn for the first time, she feels a surge of emotions that can only be expressed for her newborn. She feels the immediate need to protect her newborn. Is this so-called maternal instinct a biological reaction, or are these feelings learned, passed on from the knowledge of one mother to another? How are people able to build and keep relationships built on trust? Why is it that a person may feel a sense of belonging to someone, and yet, feel detached from another? British psychoanalyst, John Bowlby, claimed that our way of making and keeping relationships as adults began to develop at infancy. He formulated the theory that normal attachment, when we were still babies, is critical to people's healthy development. He introduced the concepts of bonding and attachment as important foundations of building healthy relationships as adults."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Billings, J.R. (1995). "Bonding theory - typical mothers in knots? A critical review of the application of a theory to nursing." Journal of Clinical Nursing, 4: 207-211.
• Feeney, J.A., Passmore, N.L. & Peterson, C.C. (2007). "Adoption, attachment and relationship concerns: a study of adult adoptees." Personal Relationships, 14: 129-147.
• Feldman, R., Weller, A., Leckman, J. F., Kuint, J. & Eidelman, A. I. (1999). "The nature of the mother's tie to her infant: maternal bonding under conditions of proximity, separation, and potential loss." J Child Psychol. Psychiat., 40(6): 929-939.
• Kaplan, J.I. & Sadock, B.J. (2002). Synopsis of Psychiatry: Behavioral Sciences/Clinical Psychiatry, 9th ed. Maryland: Williams & Wilkins.
• Smith, L. (2008). Bonding and attachment: when it goes right. [Online.] Retrieved 1 March 2008 from the Web site: http://attachment.adoption.com/bonding/what-is-attachment.html

More papers on Bonding and Attachment:

• Term Paper # 122760 : "Infants and Attachment Bonding"
• Research Paper # 106748 : "Hearing Loss and Maternal Bonding"
• Article Review # 72713 : "Children's Attachment to their Father's"

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