Disorganised Attachment in Contemporary Attachment Theory: a critical analysis of paradigms, debates and applications. (360G-Wellcome-103343_Z_13_A)

Contemporary Attachment Theory will be a four-year project involving archive research and interviews with 25 leading attachment researchers in the US and UK. It builds on my prior archive research in this area, conducted in the Wellcome Trust Library archives in 2012, and now accepted as peer-reviewed articles. A first goal is to use a sociological perspective to trace developments in the study and conceptualisation of attachment since 1990. I have been offered unprecedented access to all unpubl ished data, manuscripts and notes, and relevant correspondence, from leading attachment researchers with differing perspectives, such as Mary Main and Patricia Crittenden. The research will critically examine contemporary controversies in the field, exploring the conceptualisations of child mental health at stake. It will also assess the implications of different attachment theories for health and welfare interventions with children in the US and UK (e.g. the Circle of Security). A Wellcome PhD student will be requested. Outputs will contribute directly to theory in developmental psychopathology, to the history of discovery in psychological medicine, and to debates regarding interventions using attachment. For the duration of research I have been offered a Visiting position at UC Berkeley, the site of a key archive. In year three, a symposium will bring together researchers from divergent attachment paradigms to integrate knowledge in the discipline. The fourth year will be spent writi ng a textbook on contemporary attachment theory, drawing on the interviews and unpublished material, and with chapters revised and approved by each relevant scholar.