Abstract
This paper discusses attachment theory and research with emphasis on the empirical studies of Many Main. Main's work emphasizes the relationship between an individual's narrative regarding attachment relationships and their underlying internal working model of attachment. The internal working model of attachment is a representation of attachment experience and a set of rules for processing attachment experience. This paper describes various categories of attachment narrative construction and presents a case history that is discussed from an attachment theory perspective.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978).Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.
Bowlby, J. (1969).Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment, New York: Basic Books.
Bowlby, J. (1973).Attachment and loss: Vol. 2. Separation: Anxiety and anger. New York: Basic Books.
Bowlby, J. (1980).Attachment and loss: Vol. 3. Loss: Sadness and depression. New York: Basic Books.
Bruner, J. (1990).Acts of meaning. Cambridge, MA: Harvard.
Cassidy, J., Berlin, L. (1994). The Insecure/Ambivalent Pattern of Attachment: Theory and Research.Child Development, 65, 971–991.
Cohler, B. (1982). Personal narrative and life course.Life Span Development and Behavior, 4, 205–241.
Diamond, D., & Blatt, S. J. (1994). Internal working models and the representational world in attachment and psychoanalytic theories. In M. B. Sperling & W. H. Berman (Eds.),Attachment in adults: Clinical and developmental perspectives (pp. 72–97). New York: Guilford Press.
Fonagy, P., Steele, M., Moran, G. S., Steele, H., & Higgitt, A. C. (1993). Measuring the ghost in the nursery: An empirical study of the relation between parents' mental representations of childhood attachment and their infants' security of attachment.Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 41, 957–989.
Fonagy, P., Steele, M., Steele, H., Moran, G. S., & Higgitt, A. C. (1991). The capacity for understanding mental states: The reflective self in parent and child and its significance for security of attachment.Infant Mental Health Journal, 12, 201–208.
George, C., Kaplan, N., & Main, M. (1985).An adult attachment interview: Interview protocol. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Berkeley, Department of Psychology.
Hopkins, J. Failure of the holding relationship. Some effects of physical rejection on the child's attachment and inner experience. In C. Parkes, J. Stevenson-Hinde, & P. Marris (Eds.).Attachment across the life cycle (pp. 187–198). Tavistock/Routlege. 1991.
Horowitz, L. M. (1994). Schemas, psychopathology, and psychotherapy research.Psychotherapy Research, 4, 1–19.
Liotti, G. (1992). Disorganized/disoriented attachment in etiology of dissociative disorders.Dissociation, 5, 196–204.
Main, M. (1991). Metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive monitoring, and singular (coherent) vs. multiple (incoherent) model of attachment: Findings and directions for future research. In C. M. Parkes, J. Stevenson-Hinde, & P. Marris (Eds.),Attachment across the life cycle (pp. 127–159). London: Tavistock/Routledge.
Main, M., & Hesse E. (1990). Parents' unresolved traumatic experiences are related to infant disorganized status: Is frightened and/or frightening parental behavior the linking mechanism? In M. Greeberg, D. Cicchetti & M. Cummings (Eds.),Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 161–182). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Main, M., Kaplan, N., & Cassidy, J. (1985). Security in infancy, childhood, and adulthood: A move to the level of representation. In I. Bretherton & E. Waters (Eds.), Growing points of attachment theory and research.Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 50(1–2, Serial No. 209), 66–104.
Main, M., & Solomon, J. (1990). Procedures for identifying infants as Disorganized/Disoriented in the Ainsworth strange situation. In M. Greenberg, D. Cicchetti, & M. Cummings (Eds.),Attachment in the preschool years (pp. 121–160). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Palombo, J. (1992). Narratives, self-cohesion, and the patient's search for meaning.Clinical Social Work Journal, 20, 249–270.
Patrick, M., Hobson, R. P., Castle, D., Howard, R., & Maugham, B. (1994). Personality disorder and the mental representation of early social experience.Development and Psychotherapy, 6, 375–388.
Saari, C. (1986).Clinical social work treatment: How does it work? New York: Gardner Press.
Saari, C. (1991).The creation of meaning in clinical social work. New York: Guilford Press.
Schafer, R. (1981).Narrative actions in psychoanalysis. Volume XIV, 1980 Heinz Warner Lecture Series (pp. 1–57) Worcester, MA: Clark University Press.
Solomon, J., & George, C. (1991, April):Working models of attachment of children classified as controlling at age six: Disorganization at the level of representation. Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA.
Spence, D. P. (1982).Narrative truth and historical truth: Meaning and interpretation in psychoanalysis. New York: Norton.
Winnicott, C. (1980). Fear of breakdown: A clinical example.International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 61, 351–357.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fish, B. Clinical implications of attachment narratives. Clin Soc Work J 24, 239–253 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02190553
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02190553