Promoting secure attachment patterns in infancy and beyond.

The attachment an infant makes to its mother* has a powerful influence over subsequent development. Attachment patterns may be secure, insecure avoidant or insecure ambivalent. They are already established by the age of one year, and are likely to affect future adult relationships, including the marital relationship and relationships with the person's own children. Children with insecure attachments may be more prone to psychological or psychiatric ill health. Family therapy can recognise the relevance of attachment theory and incorporate it when helping families to find new patterns of relating to one another and resolving their difficulties. Early intervention by midwives, health visitors and other primary health care professionals can help prevent faulty attachment patterns from becoming established and so being transmitted from one generation to the next.