Mental Health and Children: Caring for Children

Summary of Core Teachings

 Since birth, the relationship between a parent or caregivers and a child is

important because it profoundly affects their development, including physically,

socially, and psychologically.

 Bowlby (1988) integrates the contributions of Konrad Lorenz in their work to

uphold that neglecting children in their early years profoundly affects their

development and mental health.

 In particular, the deprivation of maternal care largely plays a role in a child's

behavioral and mental problems.

 Considering the immense role played by a mother in a child's development, their

past personal experiences matter a lot, especially the experiences they have had or

continue to have with their parents (Bowly, 1988). Bowlby proposes that, to help

individuals become successful parents, they should be taught by example rather

than instructions, for example, exposing them to parents who have had successful

parenting.

 Efforts should be made to prevent family failure, such as treatment for physical

and mental illnesses to provide a nurturing environment for a child.

 Early attachment also plays a critical role in the development of a child.

Previously, attachment was perceived as the connection between a mother and a

child, and it was based on feeding.

 Bowlby offers a different point of view on attachment to uphold that attachment

is any form of connection that results in a person attaining or maintaining

 proximity to some other dearly identified individual who is conceived as better

able to cope with the world (Bowly, 1988). A major theme in the attachment

theory is that mothers or caregivers are available and responsive to their

youngness’s needs. An attachment grows when a child knows their mother is

dependable as they learn to explore the world. Attachments also play a critical

role in a child's development as they influence behavior and psychological

patterns later in life.

 Bowlby illustrates various attachments that can develop depending on an

environment, including secure attachment, anxious-resistant attachment, and

anxious-avoidant attachment. These principle patterns of attachment influence

how a person forms and maintains relationships with others.

 Therapists also play a role in helping a person learn why they act the way they do,

especially if the behaviors and patterns are unhealthy. However, for therapists to

do so, they need to provide a secure base where an individual(s) can explore and

express their thoughts and feelings freely.

Application of the Material to all, including Clients and Patients, from a Strength-

based Perspective

These materials will be applied to understand all of us, not just clients and patients, that

our early relations, including the environment, play a critical role in our development, especially

behavior and psychological patterns. The materials also inform us that parents' past experiences,

including their past and current relations with their parents, also determine how they bring up

their children. Also, early intervention during parenthood, including support, can enhance
successful parenting. From a strength-based perspective, the materials inform us that we need a

positive environment in our early years, and therapy can help us learn new ways of forming

beneficial relations.

What does the Perspective add to my Understanding of People's Internal, Subjective

Experiences of Themselves and Informs the Way We Experience, Engage, Approach, and

Avoid Other People, Our Work, and Ourselves.

The Perspective informs that the environment one grows it can cause one to develop

unconscious biases, which makes one selective of people with whom one hopes to develop an

intimate relationship. The Perspective further informs about the three principles of attachment,

secure attachment, anxious resistant attachment, and anxious-avoidant attachment, which

influence how a person engages, approaches, and avoids other people, our work, and ourselves.

Relying on the Materials for My Intervention with Individuals

These materials will be relied upon for interventions with individuals to help them

identify how they consciously and subconsciously explore relationships with others. Helping

them do so will aid them in identifying the expectations they set for their feelings and behaviors

of other people. In addition, the materials will be used to help individuals identify subconscious

biases they hold when they select persons they desire to be intimate with. Exploring the biases

helps to explain the environment they grew up in and how it played a role in influencing such

thinking patterns and behaviors. The materials will further be used to help individuals

deconstruct their subconscious biases in an environment where they can express their feelings

and emotions freely.

 Relying on the Materials for My Intervention with Families

I will use the materials for the intervention with families to identify the environment they

are in and how it affects the development of their children. The materials will be used to inform

and enlighten families on how to create safe bases for their children, including emphasizing the

significance of maternal care in their early years. The materials will also be used to help families

deconstruct unsafe environments and recommend as well as support the provision of positive

interventions where children can develop in a healthy manner, behaviorally and psychologically.
 References

Bowlby, J. (1988). A SECURE BASE Parent-Child Attachment and Healthy Human

Development.