Problem:
Reply to this discussion using a different recent peer-reviewed article (three years) and a biblical perspective. After reading Leo's case study from the text, Healing Relational Trauma with Attachment-Focused Interventions (Hughes, Golding, & Hudson, 2019), specific examples from Leo's life that have contributed to his difficulty with attachment and how those events have impacted him that stem from his adverse childhood experiences. When Leo is 3 years old, the family is referred to therapeutic services for his behavioral concerns and was determined to have associated disorganized-controlling attachment pattern. These behavioral patterns may have most likely stemmed from his early experiences with contact from is birth and adoptive family fostering insecurity and anxiety that is illuminated during the early stages of his development observed with intervention. By age 5, Leo begins to struggle with his fears and anxiety, which are highlighted by his cognitive maturity through his knowledge of being adopted. He begins to feel shame and begins to have a fear of abandonment.
Furthermore, his background with his birth parents and the foster care system impacted on his ability to attach to Don and April through his experiences with his birth parents. Though Don and April have been with Leo for most of his life, he continues to struggle with security, trust, fear, anxiety, and a need for control. When he is five years old, he struggles with fear and anxiety which feelings of shame and abandonment begin to trickle in. When Leo begins therapy, he expresses how he wants help from his adoptive mother but begins to worry that she may hurt him instead like his birth mother did (Hughes, Golding, & Hudson, 2019), In scripture, unlike Don and April, dysfunctional parenting of Eli and Samuel led to severe disruption of their roles within a family unit that in turn manifested in an alteration of positive attachment styles. In turn, this disruption resulted in healthy attachment styles from dysfunctional parenting (New International Version, 2011).
In my own life, my attachment styles with my father and mother differ. With my father, I have a secure attachment style as he provided the most regulated emotional support and provided consistent responsiveness towards my needs. However, with my mother, I have an avoidant attachment style, which is from my mother being emotionally distant (National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (UK), 2015). From this experience, I have learned to manage my own distress and found that I had resented my mother for years because of the lack of empathy and connection. However, I understand that now, with therapy, her parenting does not define the person that I am. It did severely cause an estranged relationship that may never be balanced, but I have learned that I must acknowledge my own inconsistencies to regulate my emotions which thankfully, I have been able to facilitate since I began therapy in 2019. I would say that this attachment style, with my mother, has had positive and negative impacts on my relationships. It has had positive impacts on relationships as I am very independent and like to have things done a certain way. A negative impact would be that I have a hard time asking for help because I used to see it as weakness, although now I see it as a strength. Need Assignment Help?