The Origins of Attachment: Infant Research and Adult Treatment

256 Pages·2014·3.79 MB·English

by  Beatrice Beebe

THE ORIGINS OF ATTACHMENT
The Origins of Attachment: Infant Research and Adult Treatment addresses the
origins of attachment in mother–infant face-to-face communication. New patterns
of relational disturbance in infancy are described. These aspects of communica-
tion are out of conscious awareness. They provide clinicians with new ways of
thinking about infancy, and about nonverbal communication in adult treatment.
Utilizing an extraordinarily detailed microanalysis of videotaped mother–infant
interactions at 4 months, Beatrice Beebe, Frank M. Lachmann, and their research
collaborators provide a more fine-grained and precise description of the process
of attachment formation. Second-by-second microanalysis operates like a social
microscope and reveals more than can be grasped by the naked eye.
The book explores how, alongside linguistic content, the bodily aspect of commu-
nication is an essential component of the capacity to communicate and understand
emotion. The moment-to-moment self- and interactive processes of relatedness doc-
umented in infant research form the bedrock of adult face-to-face communication
and provide the background fabric for the verbal narrative in the foreground.
The Origins of Attachment is illustrated throughout with several case vignettes
of adult treatment. Discussions by Carolyn S. Clement, Malcolm Owen Slavin,
E. Joyce Klein, Estelle Shane, Alexandra Harrison, and Stephen Seligman show
how the research can be used by practicing clinicians. This book details aspects
of bodily communication between mothers and infants that will provide useful
analogies for therapists of adults. It will be essential reading for psychoanalysts,
psychotherapists, and graduate students.
Beatrice Beebe is Clinical Professor of Medical Psychology (in Psychiatry), Col-
lege of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York State Psychi-
atric Institute; faculty at the Columbia Psychoanalytic Center, the Institute for the
Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, and the New York University Postdoctoral
Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.
Frank M. Lachmann is a teacher, supervisor, and a member of the Founding
Faculty of the Institute for the Psychoanalytic Study of Subjectivity, New York;
and a Clinical Assistant Professor, New York University Postdoctoral Program in
Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis.
RELATIONAL PERSPECTIVES BOOK SERIES
LEWIS ARON & ADRIENNE HARRIS
Series Co-Editors
STEVEN KUCHUCK & EYAL ROZMARIN
Associate Editors
The Relational Perspectives Book Series (RPBS) publishes books that grow out
of or contribute to the relational tradition in contemporary psychoanalysis. The
term relational psychoanalysis was first used by Greenberg and Mitchell (1983) to
bridge the traditions of interpersonal relations, as developed within interpersonal
psychoanalysis and object relations, as developed within contemporary British
theory. But, under the seminal work of the late Stephen A. Mitchell, the term rela-
tional psychoanalysis grew and began to accrue to itself many other influences and
developments. Various tributaries—interpersonal psychoanalysis, object relations
theory, self psychology, empirical infancy research, and elements of contempo-
rary Freudian and Kleinian thought—flow into this tradition, which understands
relational configurations between self and others, both real and fantasied, as the
primary subject of psychoanalytic investigation.
We refer to the relational tradition, rather than to a relational school, to highlight
that we are identifying a trend, a tendency within contemporary psychoanalysis,
not a more formally organized or coherent school or system of beliefs. Our use of
the term relational signifies a dimension of theory and practice that has become
salient across the wide spectrum of contemporary psychoanalysis. Now under the
editorial supervision of Lewis Aron and Adrienne Harris with the assistance of
Associate Editors Steven Kuchuck and Eyal Rozmarin, the Relational Perspec-
tives Book Series originated in 1990 under the editorial eye of the late Stephen A.
Mitchell. Mitchell was the most prolific and influential of the originators of the
relational tradition. He was committed to dialogue among psychoanalysts and he
abhorred the authoritarianism that dictated adherence to a rigid set of beliefs or
technical restrictions. He championed open discussion, comparative and integra-
tive approaches, and he promoted new voices across the generations.
Included in the Relational Perspectives Book Series are authors and works that
come from within the relational tradition, extend and develop the tradition, as
well as works that critique relational approaches or compare and contrast it with
alternative points of view. The series includes our most distinguished senior psy-
choanalysts along with younger contributors who bring fresh vision.
Vol. 1 Vol. 8
Conversing with Uncertainty: Unformulated Experience:
Practicing Psychotherapy From Dissociation to Imagination in
In A Hospital Setting Psychoanalysis
Rita Wiley McCleary Donnel B. Stern
Vol. 2 Vol. 9
Affect in Psychoanalysis: Influence and Autonomy in
A Clinical Synthesis Psychoanalysis
Charles Spezzano Stephen A. Mitchell
Vol. 3 Vol. 10
The Analyst in the Inner City: Fairbairn, Then and Now
Race, Class, and Culture Neil J. Skolnick and David E. Scharff
through a Psychoanalytic Lens (eds.)
Neil Altman
Vol. 11
Vol. 4 Building Bridges:
A Meeting of Minds: Negotiation of Paradox in
Mutuality in Psychoanalysis Psychoanalysis
Lewis Aron Stuart A. Pizer
Vol. 5 Vol. 12
Holding and Psychoanalysis: Relational Perspectives on the
A Relational Perspective Body
Joyce A. Slochower Lewis Aron & Frances Sommer
Anderson (eds.)
Vol. 6
The Therapist as a Person: Vol. 13
Life Crises, Life Choices, Life Seduction, Surrender, and
Experiences, and Their Effects on Transformation:
Treatment Emotional Engagement in the Analytic
Barbara Gerson (ed.) Process
Karen Maroda
Vol. 7
Soul on the Couch: Vol. 14
Spirituality, Religion, and Morality Relational Psychoanalysis:
in Contemporary Psychoanalysis The Emergence of a Tradition
Charles Spezzano & Stephen A. Mitchell & Lewis Aron
Gerald J. Gargiulo (eds.) (eds.)
Vol. 15 Vol. 23
The Collapse of the Self and Its September 11: Trauma and
Therapeutic Restoration Human Bonds
Rochelle G. K. Kainer Susan W. Coates,
Jane L. Rosenthal,
Vol. 16 & Daniel S. Schechter (eds.)
Psychoanalytic Participation:
Action, Interaction, and Integration Vol. 24
Kenneth A. Frank Minding Spirituality
Randall Lehman Sorenson
Vol. 17
The Reproduction of Evil: Vol. 25
A Clinical and Cultural Perspective Gender as Soft Assembly
Sue Grand Adrienne Harris
Vol. 18 Vol. 26
Objects of Hope: Impossible Training:
Exploring Possibility and Limit in A Relational View of Psychoanalytic
Psychoanalysis Education
Steven H. Cooper Emanuel Berman
Vol. 19 Vol. 27
Who is the Dreamer, Who Dreams The Designed Self:
the Dream? Psychoanalysis and Contemporary
A Study of Psychic Presences Identities
James S. Grotstein Carlo Strenger
Vol. 20 Vol. 28
Relationality: Relational Psychoanalysis, Vol. II:
From Attachment to Intersubjectivity Innovation and Expansion
Stephen A. Mitchell Lewis Aron & Adrienne Harris (eds.)
Vol. 21 Vol. 29
Looking for G round: Child Therapy in the Great Outdoors:
Countertransference A Relational View
and the Problem of Value in Sebastiano Santostefano
Psychoanalysis
Peter G. M. Carnochan Vol. 30
The Healer’s Bent:
Vol. 22 Solitude and Dialogue in the Clinical
Sexuality, Intimacy, Power Encounter
Muriel Dimen James T. McLaughlin
Vol. 31 Vol. 39
Unconscious Fantasies and the Dare to be Human:
Relational World A Contemporary Psychoanalytic
Danielle Knafo & Kenneth Feiner Journey
Michael Shoshani Rosenbaum
Vol. 32
Getting From Here to There: Vol. 40
Analytic Love, Analytic Process The Analyst in the Inner City,
Sheldon Bach Second Edition:
Race, Class, and Culture through a
Vol. 33 Psychoanalytic Lens
Creating Bodies: Neil Altman
Eating Disorders as Self-Destructive
Survival Vol. 41
Katie Gentile The Hero in the Mirror:
From Fear to Fortitude
Vol. 34 Sue Grand
Relational Psychoanalysis, Vol. III:
New Voices Vol. 42
Melanie Suchet, Adrienne Harris, Sabert Basescu:
& Lewis Aron (eds.) Selected Papers on Human Nature
and Psychoanalysis
Vol. 35 George Goldstein & Helen Golden
Comparative-Integrative (eds.)
Psychoanalysis:
A Relational Perspective for the Vol. 43
Discipline’s Second Century Invasive Objects: Minds under
Brent Willock Siege
Paul Williams
Vol. 36
Bodies in Treatment: Vol. 44
The Unspoken Dimension Good Enough Endings:
Frances Sommer Anderson (ed.) Breaks, Interruptions, and
Terminations from Contemporary
Vol. 37 Relational Perspectives
Adolescent Identities: Jill Salberg (ed.)
A Collection of Readings
Deborah Browning (ed.) Vol. 45
First Do No Harm: The
Vol. 38 Paradoxical Encounters of
Repair of the Soul: Metaphors of Psychoanalysis, Warmaking, and
Transformation in Jewish Mysticism Resistance
and Psychoanalysis Adrienne Harris & Steven Botticelli
Karen E. Starr (eds.)
Vol. 46 Vol. 54
A Disturbance in the Field: The Silent Past and the Invisible
Essays in Transference- Present:
Countertransference Engagement Memory, Trauma, and
Steven H. Cooper Representation in Psychotherapy
Paul Renn
Vol. 47
Uprooted Minds: Vol. 55
Surviving the Politics of Terror in the A Psychotherapy for the People:
Americas Toward a Progressive
Nancy Caro Hollander Psychoanalysis
Lewis Aron & Karen Starr
Vol. 48
Toward Mutual Recognition: Vol. 56
Relational Psychoanalysis and the Holding and Psychoanalysis: A Rela-
Christian Narrative tional Perspective
Marie T. Hoffman Joyce Slochower
Vol. 49 Vol. 57
Understanding and Treating The Play Within the Play: The
Dissociative Identity Disorder: Enacted Dimension of Psychoanalytic
A Relational Approach Process
Elizabeth F. Howell Gil Katz
Vol. 50 Vol. 58
With Culture in Mind: Traumatic Narcissism: Relational
Psychoanalytic Stories Systems of Subjugation
Muriel Dimen (ed.) Daniel Shaw
Vol. 51 Vol. 59
Relational Psychoanalysis, Vol. IV: Clinical Implications of the
Expansion of Theory Psychoanalyst’s
Lewis Aron & Adrienne Harris (eds.) Life Experience: When the Personal
Becomes Professional
Vol. 52 Steven Kuchuck (ed.)
Relational Psychoanalysis, Vol. V:
Evolution of Process Vol. 60
Lewis Aron & Adrienne Harris (eds.) The Origins of Attachment: Infant
Research and Adult Treatment
Vol. 53 Beatrice Beebe and Frank M.
Individualizing Gender and Sexuality: Lachmann
Theory and Practice
Nancy Chodorow
THE ORIGINS OF
ATTACHMENT
Infant Research and Adult Treatment
Beatrice Beebe and
Frank M. Lachmann
Collaborators:
Joseph Jaffe, Sara Markese, Karen A. Buck,
Henian Chen, Patricia Cohen, Lorraine Bahrick,
Howard Andrews, and Stanley Feldstein
Discussants:
Carolyn S. Clement, Malcolm Owen Slavin,
E. Joyce Klein, Estelle Shane, Alexandra Harrison,
and Stephen Seligman
First published 2014
by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2014 Taylor & Francis
The right of Beatrice Beebe and Frank M. Lachmann to be identified as authors
of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced
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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Beebe, Beatrice, 1946–
The origins of attachment : infant research and adult treatment /
Beatrice Beebe and Frank M. Lachmann.
pages cm
1. Attachment behavior in children.
2. Infants—Care—Psychological aspects.
3. Mother and infant—Psychological aspects.
4. Nonverbal communication in infants. I. Lachmann, Frank M. II. Title.
RJ507.A77B433 2014
618.92'8588—dc23
2013022801
ISBN: 978–0–415–89817–1 (hbk)
ISBN: 978–0–415–89818–8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978–1–315–85806–7 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Swales & Willis Ltd, Exeter, Devon, UK
TO JOSEPH JAFFE AND DANIEL STERN,
IN MEMORIAM
TO ANNETTE, SUZANNE, AND
PETER LACHMANN