Welcome to the Social Work Journal with your host Deltom! This podcast is a place for healing and a place for those of us who are looking for answers to questions we have in life.

In today’s episode (recorded in April 2021) of the Social Work Journal, we talk about attachment. Attachment is the emotional bond that forms between an infant and their primary caregiver that helps evolve the child’s social, emotional, and cognitive development. Since Deltom herself is a mother of a (then 18 month-old), she wanted to share highly useful information about this topic through theory, research, and her own experiences.

[7:00] Sleep Train – Although recommended by a pediatrician, Deltom explains that the sleep training method, the cry-out method, which is also known as the extinction method, could be very controversial as some parents complain it to be cruel, and the others believe if one doesn’t follow cry-out, they’ll never be able to get their children out of bed.

[8:30] Transitional Object – When a baby is separated from the mother for the very first time, it will cling to an object like a stuffed animal or blanket. Hence, this first object is what’s known as the transitional phenomena or the transitional object. The baby believes that this first object is usually someone that is an internalized image of its mother.

[10:10] Good Enough Mother – According to D.W. Winnicott’s theory, a “good enough mother” is someone who will make sure to meet all her baby’s needs but then slowly allow the baby to experience small amounts of frustration and only step in when it is needed to comfort the baby.

[10:55] Karl Heinz’s Identity Theory– Without the mother, there’s no baby because the baby’s feeling of self-worth is mirrored off of the mother as a result of which the baby first establishes its identity.

[12:10] Disillusionment – This is when the baby experiences separation from the mother for the first time and has a sense of reality/understanding that they’re actually a separate entity from their parent.

[15:43] Quality of Attachment – Deltom plays/analyzes a recording of Mary Ainsworth and John Bolwby’s, “A Strange Situation Experiment” which illustrates what secure attachment looks like.

[19:02] Secure Attachment – This is when the mother leaves the child and goes missing for a little while the child experiences separation anxiety. Later on, when the mother returns, the child returns to their happy or content state.

[19:22] Avoidant Attachment – The child is curious when the mother is absent less and less as they grow accustomed to her absence. The child appears to be independent.

[21:01] Ambivalent Attachment – As Deltom describes, in just one word, “inconsolable.” The child wants closeness but doesn’t know how to ask for it.

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