Attachment theory into the future: A workshop with Sir Richard Bowlby in Stockport on Friday 14th November 2014

We hope you will enjoy the workshop.

To download the programme for the day, click here.

To download an abstract of Sir Richard’s positioning paper on daycare click here.

If you would like to read the text of Sir Richard’s 2004 Donald Winnicott Memorial Lecture then click here.  This provides fascinating background to attachment theory, and includes a careful clarification of John Bowlby’s position on childcare.

Other material will be made available on the day, and we will put it onto this webpage as soon as we receive it.

Sir Richard’s approach is to incorporate video clips into his explanation of his father’s work.  Many of these are original and feature leading workers from a number of fields.  Some have found their way onto the internet and especially onto YouTube.  These include his excellent explanation of the attachment styles that emerge from Mary Ainsworth’s work with toddlers.

Sir Richard Bowlby explains the attachment styles of toddlers, as revealed in the ‘Strange Situation’* (Ainsworth et al., 1978):

* The ‘Strange Situation’ is a standard laboratory technique used by researchers in attachment theory to assess the attachment style of toddlers. It was developed by Mary Ainsworth, who worked with John Bowlby in the early 1950s, at the Tavistock Clinic in London. She later carried out close observation of infants and their mothers in Uganda and Baltimore, USA.  It is often related to and correlated with the ‘Adult Attachment Interview’ developed by Mary Main, another associate of John Bowlby; which is used to assess the attachment style of adults.

You may also be interested in this clip, which features Sir Richard with Allan Schore and Alan Sroufe.  It makes links between attachment theory and neurobiology and provides good background for the afternoon.

On the day of the event we will offer a £10 discount on selected classes of registration for future Mindsite events.  These will be available by booking in person on the day or by booking online using the promo code ‘Bowlby246’.  This code will be valid from the start of the event until midnight on Sunday 23rd November 2014.

Recommended references on attachment theory

Ainsworth M.S., Blehar M.C., Waters E., et al. (1978) Patterns of Attachment: A Psychological Study of the Strange Situation. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Bowlby J. (1997) Attachment and Loss: Attachment. London: Pimlico.

Bowlby J. (1998a) Attachment and Loss: Loss. London: Pimlico.

Bowlby J. (1998b) Attachment and Loss: Separation. London: Pimlico.

Bowlby R. and King P. (2004) Fifty Years of Attachment Theory: The Donald Winnicott Memorial Lecture Given by Sir Richard Bowlby. London: Karnac.

Diamond N. and Marrone M. (2003) Attachment and Intersubjectivity. London: Whurr.

Holmes J. (2001) The Search for the Secure Base : Attachment Theory and Psychotherapy. Hove, East Sussex ; Philadelphia, PA: Brunner-Routledge.

Marrone M. (1998) Attachment and Interaction. London: Jessica Kingsley.

Parkes C.M., Stevenson-Hinde J. and Marris P. (1991) Attachment across the Life Cycle. London: Routledge.

Sroufe L.A., Egeland B., Carlson E.A., et al. (2005) The Development of the Person: The Minnisota Study of Risk and Adaptation from Birth to Adulthood. New Yory, NY: The Guilford Press.