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Viewing the Group Through the Lens of Attachment Theory Secure Attachment Creates Bold Explorers: viewing the group through the lens of Attachment theory Jean Mehrtens RPN, BA, DipEd, MAppSci A Thesis presented to the Board of Examiners of the Australian and New Zealand Psychodrama Association Inc. in partial fulfilment of the requirement for certification as a Psychodramatist Copyright Statement This thesis has been completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements toward certification as a practitioner by the Board of Examiners of the Australian and New Zealand Psychodrama Association Incorporated. It represents a considerable body of work undertaken with extensive supervision. This knowledge and insight has been gained through hundreds of hours of experience, study and reflection. © Australian and New Zealand Psychodrama Association Incorporated 2008 Copyright is held by the author. The Australian and New Zealand Psychodrama Association Incorporated has the license to publish. All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission from the author and/or the Australian and New Zealand Psychodrama Association Incorporated. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical photocopying, recording or otherwise, save with written permission of the Australian and New Zealand Psychodrama Association Incorporated and/or the author. The development, preparation and publication of this work have been undertaken with great care. However, the publisher is not responsible for any errors contained herein or for consequences that may ensue from use of materials or information contained in this work. Enquiries: PO Box 232, Daw Park, South Australia 5041, Australia ii Table of Contents Table of Contents..............................................................................................................................iii List of Diagrams ................................................................................................................................iii Abstract............................................................................................................................................ iv Preface ............................................................................................................................................... v Introduction.......................................................................................................................................1 Literature Review..............................................................................................................................2 Attachment Theory...........................................................................................................................2 Table 1: Mother responsiveness and infant attachment behaviours ..................................................4 Table 2: Main and Ainsworth categories .....................................................................................................5 Styles to Strategies .........................................................................................................................7 Psychodrama Theory .........................................................................................................................9 Human Development ...........................................................................................................................................9 Table 3: Roles and Counter-roles of baby and mother around exploration .....................................11 Role Analysis.......................................................................................................................................................12 Table 4: Models of Role Analysis .................................................................................................................12 Spontaneity.........................................................................................................................................................13 Attachment Theory and Psychodrama ..........................................................................................15 Implications of Insecure Attachments for Role Development and Spontaneity ......................17 Table 5: Roles observed in group .................................................................................................................18 Psychodrama viewed through the Attachment Model .................................................................24 Reflections on the Psychodrama....................................................................................................27 Role Development Through Attachment .......................................................................................28 Discussion.........................................................................................................................................32 Key Concern......................................................................................................................................35 Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................36 Appendix 1........................................................................................................................................37 Appendix 2 .......................................................................................................................................37 References.......................................................................................................................................38 List of Diagrams Diagram 1: Continuum of Attachment Strategies 7 Diagram 2: The Matrix of Identity 9 Diagram 3:The Result of Adequate Stage of the Double 10 Diagram 4: Canon of Creativity: Spontaneity-Creativity-Conserve 13 Diagram 5: Eloise at home 20 Diagram 6: Eloise in the group 22 Diagram 7: Eloise’s activating roles with her niece 23 Diagram 8: Scene 1 of Innes’ drama 24 Diagram 9: Scene 2 of Innes’ drama 25 Diagram 10: Role Analysis of Innes’ drama 26 Diagram 11: Bette’s relationship to the group at the beginning 29 Diagram 12: Bette’s relationship to the group during her drama 30 Diagram 13: Bette’s relationship to the group on her birthday 31 iii Abstract Attachment strategies persist throughout life, and impact on our spontaneity and creativity. Viewing therapeutic endeavours through the lenses of psychodrama theory and attachment theory adds to the clinical efficacy of the psychodrama method. This paper demonstrates my understandings of attachment theory, and the relevance of this theory for psychodramatists. Applications of attachment theory are explored through the presentation of three case studies. iv Preface Attachment is not something that is grown out of once adulthood is achieved. We seek and try to maintain a secure base throughout life. (Holmes, 1996) The ‘truth’ of this statement is brought home to me driving home from the final training session for the year. Therese, my co-trainer, has announced that she will not be present for most of the sessions next year. I am feeling abandoned. I know this is not realistic response to the situation. I know this feeling has lots of roots in my early experience, and only some in the present day reality. Reflection produces questions – am I attached to the group, or individual members of the group, or am I attached to my trainer? Obviously all have some relevance here, and I become interested in how attachment issues have affected the whole group this year. We have had a difficult year – new group members, anxiety, conflict, competition, discomfort, fear, loss, pain, all the feelings that can arise when struggling with difficult issues and working towards change. The centrality of attachment to my life comes from my experiences as an adopted infant. Moreno’s theoretical description of infant development ( Moreno, 1972) suggests that the physiological birth of an infant is followed some months later by psychological birth, made possible by the relationship with the mother. From my dramas around my birth experience I have a sense of being ‘born too soon’, that there was not a slow process of coming to self with my mother holding and present; rather a sharp necessity to be in the world, a demand to warm up to the world immediately. This first experience of attachment, of warming up to a role, is reflected in my writing style – I warm up quickly and sharply to an idea, and this may appear abrupt to the reader. I have been reading around the attachment literature for more than a year because I have known my ‘big’ question for this paper: Attachment is a significant issue in my life, and seems to be for others. Now I have my ‘small’ question: How do attachment issues affect individuals in a group setting? v Introduction How do attachment issues affect individuals in a group setting? In this paper I will review the main threads of attachment models, and then attempt to weave the concepts of attachment theory alongside the concepts of psychodrama. This may produce an intriguingly textured view. I believe that looking with more than one ‘lens’ can create images that are more ‘alive’. Binocular vision enables us to see perspective, judge distances and understand the spatial relationships of objects. The
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