Background: Considering recent advances in the field of early detection and intervention in young people with increased levels of psychotic symptoms seeking help, this thesis proposes that early attachment insecurity triggers an inability to regulate emotional distress, to engage in positive interpersonal interactions with others, to use adaptive coping mechanisms and to manage social support appropriately. These constructs appear to be linked to psychosis; however, considering continuity between subthreshold psychotic symptoms and the later development of psychosis, it is vital to understand if these underlying affective and interpersonal mechanisms increase the risk of psychosis in help-seeking young people. Objectives: This study was cross-sectional and investigated the following research questions: 1) Does attachment insecurity signpost the risk of developing psychosis? 2) Do coping strategies, interpersonal difficulties, social support and emotional distress have an indirect effect on the relationship between attachment insecurity and the risk of developing psychosis? Methods: A total of 76 help-seeking young people were recruited from Community Mental Health Services in Edinburgh. All participants completed a number of questionnaires exploring their coping strategies, interpersonal problems, perceived social support and emotional distress. A semi-structured interview was undertaken, to assess their socio-demographic background. The Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States was administered and coded to assess their risk of psychosis and associated psychopathology, while path analysis was used to analyse the data and to address the research questions. Results: The profile of help-seeking young people in this sample (n=76) was made up of individuals with a moderate degree of difficulties in relation to coping strategies employed to manage stress and interpersonal problems dealing with others, moderate levels of emotional distress and discrepancies between their ideal and received social support. From the total help-seeking sample, the attachment dimensions anxiety and avoidance were relatively high. These young people were found to have had mild, psychotic-like experiences, especially in the domains associated with unusual thought content and perceptual abnormalities. When considering the subgroup of help-seeking young people with an at-risk mental state (ARMS) (n=46), the results revealed that this group had high levels of difficulties in interpersonal relationships, relied on non-productive coping strategies, presented emotional distress levels of clinical importance and also had discrepancies in their ideal and received social support. From the subsample of help-seeking young people with an ARMS the attachment dimensions anxiety and avoidance were reasonably high. These young people were found to have had moderately severe psychotic experiences, especially in the domains associated with unusual thought content and perceptual abnormalities. Path analysis revealed that attachment insecurity directly predicted psychotic symptoms in the total sample but not in the subgroup of young people with an ARMS. Emotional distress played a partially moderating role between attachment insecurity and the severity and distress associated with disorganised speech and perceptual abnormalities in the total sample but not when considering only those with an ARMS, while interpersonal problems did not mediate the relationship between attachment insecurity and the risk of psychosis in either group. Discrepancies between ideal and received social support fully mediated the relationship between attachment insecurity and the distress associated with disorganised speech in the total sample but not when considering those with an ARMS. The tendency to use less adaptive coping strategies was found to mediate directly the relationship between attachment anxiety and the distress associated with perceptual abnormalities in young people with an ARMS, albeit not in the total sample. Discussion: The clinical and theoretical implications of these results are discussed within the clinical staging model for intervention in psychosis. The findings strongly indicate that clinicians should take into consideration the mechanisms of attachment, coping strategies and social support, as well as the deleterious effects of associated emotional distress, when working with young people with increased levels of psychotic symptoms.

Esta dissertação é um estudo sobre institucionalização e adoção de crianças. Encontra-se dividida em quatro capítulos. No primeiro deles, o autor expõe as causas e tipos de institucionalização, o processo legal da adoção e seus entraves. O segundo e o terceiro capítulos constituem o núcleo desta pesquisa; no segundo é enfocada a teoria da vinculação mãe-filho, a possibilidade de substituição desse vínculo natural, e os efeitos da não vinculação da criança a uma figura específica. Ali, nossa referência principal será o psiquiatra e psicanalista John Bowlby. No terceiro capítulo encontramos, através da pena paulina, em especial de sua Epístola a Filemom, o alicerce teológico para a prática da adoção e do protesto em favor das crianças institucionalizadas. No quarto e último capítulo são analisadas algumas histórias de adoção, cujos efeitos são contrapostos aos danos psíquicos da institucionalização. / This dissertation is a study of institutionalization and adoption of children. It is divided into four chapters. In the first, the author exposes the causes and types of institutionalization, the legal process of adoption and its obstacles. The second and third chapters constitute the core of this research; the second is focused on the theory of the mother-child bond, the possibility of replacing the natural bond, and the effects of not bonding the child to a specific figure. There, our main reference is the psychiatrist and psychoanalyst John Bowlby. In the third chapter we find, through the Pauline pen, specially through his Epistle to Philemon, the theological foundation for the practice of adoption and protest in favor of institutionalized children. In the fourth and final chapter we analyze some stories of adoption, the effects of which counterpose the psychic damage of institutionalization.

The broad issue of cooping with stress and pressure as well as the attachment theory and its connection with social and emotional development of children of the certain age is found it the theoretical part of our work. Behaviour disturbances and their impact of further social and emocional development of the child are described too. Connection between these disturbances, the attachment theory and acquiering of cooping strategie is also explained. The Children{\crq}s diagnostic institution is shortly described. In the practical part of our work we can learnt about the research that has been done with the children from the Diagnostic Institut. This research brings more clarification of validity of BISK metod in conditions of the Czech Republic. The resutls of the research discover possible relations between the attachment dynamic of the child{\crq}s family and the aspects of emotional attachment of the child with his parents as well as cooping starategies resulting from them. The results of the research acknowledge truth that the children coming from unfuncional families use rather avoiding strategies of behavior if facing stress. We clarify that the children are under influence of their family environment {--} nonsupporting parents thier behaviour. Our work can bring contributions for furhter scientific research and also for work in the field of prevention and therapy.

No description available.

Kandidatuppsatsen består av en kvalitativ forskningsstudie med innehållsanalys som metod. Syftet är att genomföra en jämförande studie över hur vuxna som tidigare varit familjehemsplacerade som barn ser tillbaka på sin tid som placerad. Variabeln som eftersöks  att undersöka är om det finns skillnad i uttryck om sin placering hos de som hade kontinuitet i sin placering i jämförelse med de som haft ett sammanbrott i sin placering vid minst ett tillfälle. Intervjuerna genomfördes med hjälp av en semistrukturerad metod, vilket innebär att att intervjuerna utgår flexibelt från en färdigställd mall, detta innebär att respondenten har friheten att utrycka sig fritt samtidigt som att intervjun får en viss inriktning för att underlätta analysen av materialet. Det insamlade materialet från intervjuerna bearbetades sedan genom transkribering, kodning och kategorisering. För att kunna behandla det bearbetade materialet konstruerades en forskningsöversikt för att kunna begripliga det insamlade materialet. Det framtagna resultatet antyder att personer som har haft sammanbrott i placering upplever större svårigheter att skapa kontaktnät, svårare skolgång samt belyser ett mer utåtagerande beteende. Vidare visar  även studien på att ålder vid placering är en viktig faktor för den placerades upplevelse av inkludering i familjehemmet.

There has been an abundance of studies that have adopted positivist approaches, employing quantitative methods, to research OCD 'symptoms' and their underlying neurobiology and neurochemistry. There appears to be a lack of research investigating how OCD is experienced by those living with the diagnosis, and in particular the experiences of young people diagnosed with OCD. Ten young people, aged 14-17 years old, with a diagnosis of OCD were recruited from Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS). The young people were interviewed and a Thematic Analysis (TA) was used to analyse data. Four themes were developed through the analysis. The first theme 'Traumatic and stressful life events' found that 9 out of the 10 participants experienced at least one of the following three life events just prior to the development of their OCD: 'Hostility in the family', 'Illness and death', 'Bullying and friendlessness'. Four subthemes, 'Lack of understanding of the behaviour', 'Being secretive', 'I thought I was going crazy', and 'Feeling different', provided a richer understanding to the theme 'Responses to signs of OCD'. The four subthemes 'Feeling "right"', 'I was taking on all the responsibility', 'It's ruined everything', 'Everyday life is now in my bedroom' explored the third theme 'The battle of living with OCD'. The last theme 'Ambivalent relationship to help' described the conflict that most participants had over exposure therapy and accommodation of their OCD. Lastly, most participants felt the long waiting time for help was frustrating. The theme is fully explored by the following three subthemes: 'Conflicts of exposure therapy', 'Conflicts about accommodation of the OCD', and 'Frustrations of long waiting lists'. The themes that emerged may provide important information for clinicians and the implications of the research findings are discussed. The strengths and limitations of the study are noted and there are suggestions for future research.

Robotics agents are meant to play an increasingly larger role in our everyday lives. To be successfully integrated in our environment, robots will need to develop and display adaptive, robust, and socially suitable behaviours. To tackle these issues, the robotics research community has invested a considerable amount of efforts in modelling robotic architectures inspired by research on living systems, from ethology to developmental psychology. Following a similar approach, this thesis presents the research results of the modelling and experimental testing of robotic architectures based on affective and attachment bonds between young infants and their primary caregiver. I follow a bottom-up approach to the modelling of such bonds, examining how they can promote the situated development of an autonomous robot. Specifically, the models used and the results from the experiments carried out in laboratory settings and with naive users demonstrate the impact such affective bonds have on the learning outcomes of an autonomous robot and on the perception and behaviour of humans. This research leads to the emphasis on the importance of the interplay between the dynamics of the regulatory behaviours performed by a robot and the responsiveness of the human partner. The coupling of such signals and behaviours in an attachment-like dyad determines the nature of the outcomes for the robot, in terms of learning or the satisfaction of other needs. The experiments carried out also demonstrate of the attachment system can help a robot adapt its own social behaviour to that of the human partners, as infants are thought to do during their development.

Approximately 10% of adults living in the United States meet criteria for a Substance Use Disorder. Although 12-step groups are considered evidence-based practices for substance use problems, an understanding of the underlying mechanisms by which they facilitate recovery practices remains in its infancy. The purpose of the current study was to explore whether attachment could be considered a possible mediator of the effects of recovery practices on positive psychosocial outcomes. Participants (N = 112) were self-identified NA members from 26 U.S. states who completed an online survey assessing attachment style, psychosocial sense of community, psychological well-being, and various other recovery and psychosocial constructs. Results indicated a number of recovery-related practices emerged as significant predictors of secure attachment, over and above covariates. For example, higher levels of home group comfort were associated with increased probability of secure attachment classification (by self-report). In general, psychological sense of community did not significantly predict secure attachment, over and above covariates. Although attachment predicted psychological well-being in univariate models, it generally failed to predict psychological well-being in models that included covariates and recovery-related predictors. Theoretically, these data suggest that functional social support variables are primary recovery-related predictors implicated in NA-involvement, above and beyond other structural social support variables. This further suggests that attachment-related dimensions of 12-step interventions may be integral to recovery outcomes.

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT; Johnson, 2004) addresses relationship distress by facilitating the development of new patterns of interaction between partners. These new patterns of interaction are based on partners' vulnerable acknowledgement and expression of attachment needs. Partners' engagement in these new patterns of interaction is thought to improve their relationship-specific attachment bond. Although previous studies have shown EFT to result in excellent relationship satisfaction outcomes (Johnson, Hunsley, Greenberg & Schindler, 1999), research had yet clearly to demonstrate if and how EFT facilitates increases in partners' relationship-specific models attachment security over the course of therapy. To address this research gap, the current study employed Hierarchical Linear Modelling (HLM; Singer & Willet, 2003) to investigate the pattern of change in couples' (n=32) self-reported relationship satisfaction and relationship-specific attachment over the course of EFT. Couples reported significant linear increases in their relationship satisfaction and significant linear decreases in their relationship-specific attachment avoidance over the course of therapy. Couples who completed the blamer-softening therapeutic change event (n=16) demonstrated significant linear decreases in their relationship-specific attachment anxiety after completing this event. Decreases in relationship-specific attachment anxiety predicted increases in couples' relationship satisfaction over the course of therapy. Couples also demonstrated significant increases in the security of their pre-post-therapy relationship-specific attachment behaviour, as coded Secure Base Scoring System (Crowell, Treboux, Gao, Fyffe, Pan & Waters, 2002). The current study also used HLM (Singer & Willet, 2003) to examine how the completion of blamer-softening impacted softened couples' relationship-specific attachment anxiety, and whether the completion of blamer-softening had a similar impact on softened couples' relationship-specific attachment avoidance and relationship satisfaction. Softened couples reported an immediate increase in relationship satisfaction and immediate decrease relationship-specific attachment avoidance at the softening session. Further, softened couples' post-softening decreases in relationship-specific attachment anxiety were initially preceded by an increase at the softening session. These results provided an understanding of how EFT leads to increases in couples' relationship-specific attachment security. These results provide support for the use of attachment theory in the treatment of relationship distress, and also provide an illustration of how attachment can shift over the course of a therapeutic intervention.

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT; Johnson, 2004) is an empirically validated approach to couple therapy that uses attachment theory to understand the needs and emotions of romantic partners. In EFT, relationship distress is conceptualized as resulting from negative affect, emotional disconnection, and unmet attachment needs. Although EFT is recognized as one of the most researched and effective approaches to couple therapy, little research has examined theoretically related characteristics of couples to changes in marital satisfaction throughout EFT. The present doctoral thesis examined this area of literature. Thirty-two couples were provided approximately 21 sessions of EFT. The goal of the first study was to identify intake characteristics related to change in marital satisfaction over the course of EFT. Couples completed self-report measures of marital satisfaction, attachment security, relationship trust, and emotional control at pre- and post-therapy and after each therapy session. Individuals higher on self-report attachment anxiety and higher levels of emotional control had greater change in marital satisfaction over the course of EFT. The goal of the second study was to examine intake levels of attachment security and its relationship to the occurrence of the blamer-softening event, a key change event in EFT, and changes in marital satisfaction. Results indicated that the occurrence of a blamer-softening event significantly predicted positive changes in marital satisfaction. Results also suggested that the occurrence of a softening event significantly moderated the relationship between attachment avoidance at intake and change in marital satisfaction from pre- to post-therapy. For couples who completed a blamer-softening event, partners with lower levels of attachment avoidance were more likely to have positive changes in marital satisfaction. However, this relationship was not evident for attachment anxiety. Overall, results from this thesis suggest that attachment security is a key characteristic of couple partners for therapists to consider when implementing EFT. Therapists may benefit from assessing attachment security at the start of therapy to help inform them of the emotion regulating strategies used by couple partners. This information may help therapists to tailor specific interventions such that couples may begin to develop more secure attachment bonds.