460 - Complicated Grief and Attachment
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Complicated Grief and Attachment
Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes PhD, LPC-MHSP
Podcast Host: Counselor Toolbox and Happiness Isn't Brain Surgery
Objectives
~ Define Complicated Grief
~ Identify how loss of or lack of an attachment relationship may represent a loss that needs to be grieved.
~ Explore the overlap between complicated grief and trauma
~ Identify risk factors for CG
~ Explore tasks for successful grief resolution
Definitions:
~ Loss: Change that includes being without someone or something in this case the primary attachment relationship
~ Secondary loss: Other losses as a result of a primary loss. Example, loss of security when rejected by primary caregiver
~ Grief: Reaction or response to loss; includes physical, social, emotional, cognitive and spiritual dimensions.
~ Trauma: Any situation that causes the individual to experience extreme distress
Attachment
~ Attachment
~ Attachment is the quality of the relationship with the caregiver characterized by trust, safety and security.
~ The quality of the infant-parent attachment is a powerful predictor of a child's later social and emotional outcome
~ Determined by the caregiver's response to the infant and toddler when the child's attachment system is 'activated'
Internal Working Model
~ Children's attachment with their primary caregiver leads to the development of an internal working model which guides future interactions with others.
~ 3 main features of the internal working model
~ a model of others as being trustworthy (what is the loss here?)
~ a model of the self as valuable (what is the loss here?)
~ a model of the self as effective when interacting with others. (what is the loss here?)
~ Secure attachments also help children
~ Feel loved and accepted
~ Learn to manage their emotions
~ Address dichotomous thinking and cognitive distortions
Bowlby on Attachment and Grief
~ Attachment Relationships Help Regulate Psychological And Biological Functions Including:
~ Mastery and performance success
~ Learning and performing
~ Relationships with others (and future attachment)
~ Cognitive functioning
~ Coping and problem solving skills
~ Self-esteem
~ Emotion regulation
~ Sleep quality
~ Pain intensity (physical and emotional)
Bowlby
~ Attachment and safety stimulate a desire to learn, grow and explore
~ Caregivers provide support and reassurance (Safe haven)
~ Encouragement and pleasure (secure base)
Feeney J Pers Soc Psych 631 -648 2004
Bowlby
~ Loss of an attachment relationship
~ Disrupts attachment, caregiving and exploratory systems
~ Attachment: Activates separation response and impacts restorative emotional, social and biological processes
~ Exploratory system: Inhibits exploration with a loss of a sense of confidence and agency.
~ Caregiving: Produces a sense of failure and can include self blame and survivor guilt
Trauma
~ Trauma is any event that is distressing or disturbing
~ How do we know what is distressing or disturbing
~ Erodes a sense of safety (Triggers fight or flight)
~ Emotional (including dysregulation)
~ Mental (interpretations and schemas)
~ Physical (object permanence, darkness, pain, prior experiences)
~ Adverse Childhood Experiences that may disrupt primary attachment
~ Immediate family member with a mental health or addiction issue
~ Immediate family member who is incarcerated
~ Divorce
~ Abuse (child or DV)
~ Neglect
How Can Disrupted Attachment ïƒ Trauma
~ The primary attachment figure remains crucial for approximately the first 5 years of life
~ Trust/mistrust (Ages 0-2)
~ Object Permanence
~ Autonomy/shame (Ages 2-7)
~ Egocentrism: children assume that other people see, hear, and feel exactly the same