++++
EARNED SECURE
“Psychoneurobiological research of the continuing experience-dependent maturation of the right hemisphere could elucidate the underlying mechanisms by which certain attachment patterns can change from “insecurity” to “earned security”…. (Schore/ad/69)”
++++
Siegel/TDM/notes on earned attachment from
Siegel/tdm =
Siegel, Daniel J.
“The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain interact to shape who we are”
The Guilford Press
1999
“An informal subset of secure/autonomous adults consists of those with an “earned” secure/autonomous status. These are individuals whose described experiences of childhood would have been likely to produce some form of insecure attachment (avoidant, ambivalent, or disorganized). However, the coherence of their transcripts reveals a fluidity in their narratives and a flexibility in their reflective capacity, such that their present state of mind with respect to attachment is rated as secure/autonomous. These individuals often appear, from impressions of the information contained within their AAI narratives, to have had a significant emotional relationship with a close friend, romantic partner, or therapist, which has allowed them to develop out an insecure status and into a secure/autonomous AAI status. In studies comparing “earned” secure/autonomous, “continuous” secure/autonomous, and insecure parents, several findings emerge. One is that the attachment of children to parents in the “earned” and “continuous” secure autonomous cate-(91)gories appears to be indistinguishable. When parent-child interactions are assessed, even under conditions of significant stress, these two groups were indistinguishable from each other. “Earned” secure/autonomous parents, however, reported more depressive symptomatology that the “continuous” secure/autonomous group, and as much as or more than the insecure group. Whether this finding is revealing the continuing effects of a history of Suboptimal parenting, or whether these depressive states of mind are affecting the narrative process within the AAI to yield a more pessimistic set of recollections, has yet to be clarified.
In terms of our discussion of the flow of energy and information, these findings with the “earned” secure/autonomous adults may reflect a flow of knowledge about the self across time. Implicit elements from early life experiences are quickly activated in intense emotional relationships, such as those with children and spouses. If this “earned” category truly represents the emotional development of an individual from an insecure to a secure/autonomous state of mind with respect to attachment, then the narrative coherence within the AAI may reflect some important integrative process that enables parents to break the transgenerational passage of insecure attachment patters.; Further studies of this population may be helpful in understanding the factors and mechanisms the mind can use to achieve a coherent integration of mind in the face of Suboptimal attachment history. (tdm/92)”
++++
siegel/tdm
earned attachment
“The AAI finding of an “earned” secure/autonomous status is an important point for our understanding of coherent functioning. In some cases, therapeutic and personal relationships appear to be able to move individuals from an incoherent to a more integrated functioning of the mind. The fact that these adults are capable of sensitive, attuned caregiving of their children, even under stress, suggests that this “earned” status is more than just being able to “talk the talk” ; they can also “walk the walk” of being emotionally connected with their own children, despite not having such experiences in their own childhoods. We may serve a vital role for this and future generations in enabling each other to achieve the more reflective, integrated functioning that facilitates secure attachments.
We can also propose that a transforming attuned relationship would involve the following fundamental elements: contingent, collaborative communication; psychobiological state attunement; mutually shared interactions that involve the amplification of positive affective states and the reduction of negative ones; reflection on mental states; and the ensuing development of mental models of security that enable emotional modulation and positive expectancies or future interactions. (TDM/11)”
++++
“Studies of those individuals who appear to have had suboptimal attachment histories but received “earned” secure/autonomous AAI classifications…reveal that their parenting, even under stressful conditions, is sensitive and nurturing. “Earned” secure/autonomous status is most often achieved through supportive personal or therapeutic relationships (for example, marriage or psychotherapy). The implication of these findings is that even with difficult past childhood experiences, the mind is capable of achieving an integrated perspective – one that is coherent and that permits parenting behavior to be sensitive and empathic. If integration is achieved, the trend toward transmission of insecure forms of attachment to the next generation can be prevented. Achieving coherence of mind thus becomes a central goal for creating emotional well-being in both oneself and one’s offspring….such integration involves internal processes and their facilitation by interpersonal interactions. (tdm/313)”
++++
[Overall, these presentations on “earned” secure attachment seem to vague to me to be very useful. It does not give any information on the childhoods of these people. Everything seems to be on a continuum anyway, so how is it really possible to gauge?]
+++++++++++++++++++
EARNED SECURE
“Psychoneurobiological research of the continuing experience-dependent maturation of the right hemisphere could elucidate the underlying mechanisms by which certain attachment patterns can change from “insecurity” to “earned security”…. (Schore/ad/69)”
++++
“healthy maturation, facilitating a movement toward an “earned” secure/autonomous adult attachment states (siegel/tdm/287)”
+++
“Studies of those individuals who appear to have had suboptimal attachment histories but receive “earned” secure/autonomous AAI classifications in the Main and Goldwyn system reveal that their parenting, even under stressful conditions, is sensitive and nurturing. “Earned” secure/autonomous status is most often achieved through supportive personal or therapeutic relationships (for example, marriage or psychotherapy). The implication of these findings is that even with difficult past childhood experiences, the mind is capable of achieving an integrated perspective – one that is coherent and that permits parenting behavior to be sensitive and empathic. If integration is achieved, the trend toward transmission of insecure forms of attachment to the next generation can be prevented. Achieving coherence of mind thus becomes a central goal for creating emotional well-being in both oneself and one’s offspring….such integration involves internal processes and their facilitation by interpersonal interactions. (siegle/tdm/313)”
I still find this suspicious somehow, knowing my own history. There’s something missing here. Like if there is such a thing as borrowed attachment and I responded to my children’s innate ability to attach – coupled with my own need to belong – using my drive to attach – difference between drive to attach and ability to attach — and somehow remained in such denial about the reality of my own experience – or somehow formed such a cohesive “goal directed state of mind” as a parent that I just excluded those dis-associated parts of my own past that did not fit the picture of my goal directed state of mind – to not raise my children the way my parents raised me.
++++
Siegel/TDM/notes on earned attachment
“An informal subset of secure/autonomous adults consists of those with an “earned” secure/autonomous status. These are individuals whose described experiences of childhood would have been likely to produce some form of insecure attachment (avoidant, ambivalent, or disorganized). However, the coherence of their transcripts reveals a fluidity in their narratives and a flexibility in their reflective capacity, such that their present state of mind with respect to attachment is rated as secure/autonomous. These individuals often appear, from impressions of the information contained within their AAI narratives, to have had a significant emotional relationship with a close friend, romantic partner, or therapist, which has allowed them to develop out an insecure status and into a secure/autonomous AAI status. In studies comparing “earned” secure/autonomous, “continuous” secure/autonomous, and insecure parents, several findings emerge. One is that the attachment of children to parents in the “earned” and “continuous” secure autonomous cate-(91)gories appears to be indistinguishable. When parent-child interactions ere assessed, even under conditions of significant stress, these two groups were indistinguishable from each other. “Earned” secure/autonomous parents, however, reported more depressive symptomatology that the “continuous” secure/autonomous group, and as much as or more than the insecure group. Whether this finding is revealing the continuing effects of a history of Suboptimal parenting, or whether these depressive states of mind are affecting the narrative process within the AAI to yield a more pessimistic set of recollections, has yet to be clarified.
In terms of our discussion of the flow of energy and information, these findings with the “earned” secure/autonomous adults may reflect a flow of knowledge about the self across time. Implicit elements from early life experiences are quickly activated in intense emotional relationships, such as those with children and spouses. If this “earned” category truly represents the emotional development of an individual from an insecure to a secure/autonomous state of mind with respect to attachment, then the narrative coherence within the AAI may reflect some important integrative process that enables parents to break the transgenerational passage of insecure attachment patters.; Further studies of this population may be helpful in understanding the factors and mechanisms the mind can use to achieve a coherent integration of mind in the face of Suboptimal attachment history. (tdm/92)”
++++
siegel/tdm
earned attachment
“The AAI finding of an “earned” secure/autonomous status is an important point for our understanding of coherent functioning. In some cases, therapeutic and personal relationships appear to be able to move individuals from an incoherent to a more integrated functioning of the mind. The fact that these adults are capable of sensitive, attuned caregiving of their children, even under stress, suggests that this “earned” status is more than just being able to “talk the talk” ; they can also “walk the walk” of being emotionally connected with their own children, despite not having such experiences in their own childhoods. We may serve a vital role for this and future generations in enabling each other to achieve the more reflective, integrated functioning that facilitates secure attachments.
We can also propose that a transforming attuned relationship would involve the following fundamental elements: contingent, collaborative communication; psychobiological state attunement; mutually shared interactions that involve the amplification of positive affective states and the reduction of negative ones; reflection on mental states; and the ensuing development of mental models of security that enable emotional modulation and positive expectancies or future interactions. (TDM/11)”
++++
“Studies of those individuals who appear to have had suboptimal attachment histories but received “earned” secure/autonomous AAI classifications…reveal that their parenting, even under stressful conditions, is sensitive and nurturing. “Earned” secure/autonomous status is most often achieved through supportive personal or therapeutic relationships (for example, marriage or psychotherapy). The implication of these findings is that even with difficult past childhood experiences, the mind is capable of achieving an integrated perspective – one that is coherent and that permits parenting behavior to be sensitive and empathic. If integration is achieved, the trend toward transmission of insecure forms of attachment to the next generation can be prevented. Achieving coherence of mind thus becomes a central goal for creating emotional well-being in both oneself and one’s offspring….such integration involves internal processes and their facilitation by interpersonal interactions. (tdm/313)”
++++
[Overall, these presentations on “earned” secure attachment seem to vague to me to be very useful. It does not give any information on the childhoods of these people. Everything seems to be on a continuum anyway, so how is it really possible to gauge?]
++++
- *Attachment Simplified – Our Infant Attachment Systems Organize our Brain-Body-Mind-Self
- *Attachment Simplified – Secure Attachment (Organized)
- *Attachment Simplified – Organized Insecure Attachment – Avoidant-Dismissive
- *Attachment Simplified – Organized Insecure Attachment – Preoccupied-Ambivalent
- *Attachment Simplified – Disorganized Insecure Attachment – Disorganized-Disoriented
- *Attachment Simplified – Disorganized Insecure Attachment – Cannot Classify
- *Attachment Simplified – Attachments in Therapy
- *Attachment Simplified – The More Complicated Yet CRITICAL Information
- *Attachment Simplified – Still More Complicated Information Including ‘Feeling Felt’ and ‘Healing in Solitude’
Stop the Storm 
[…] Years and years of counseling, and many years of marriage to Spouse, as well as years of friendship with others helped me achieve ‘earned secure’ attachment. […]