Developmental psychology
Attachment theory, originally developed by John Bowlby, focuses on the importance of open, intimate, emotionally meaningful relationships. Attachment is described as a biological system or powerful survival impulse that evolved to ensure the survival of the infant. A child who is threatened or stressed will move toward caregivers who create a sense of physical, emotional and psychological safety for the individual. Attachment feeds on body contact and familiarity. Later Mary Ainsworth developed the Strange Situation protocol and the concept of the secure base.
Attachment and Health
Attachment theory predicts that people high in attachment avoidance and people high in attachment anxiety would display different utilization of health care resources based on their prototypical behavioural responses when stressed. The theory predicts that people high in attachment avoidance, when faced with an illness, are likely to minimize their symptoms, and wait longer to see a health care provider, since they view their own distress as a sign of unacceptable vulnerability and also because their internal working model dictates that other people are not useful in helping them manage distress. For those high in attachment anxiety, they would have higher distress when faced with an illness, less perceived ability to manage it on their own, and thus visit health care services more frequently to try to attain security. For those with high anxiety and high avoidance, or fearful attachment, they would be predicted to present less frequently than those with secure attachment, but show up in a crisis when they do, which may interfere with optimal care. Research findings have generally been supportive of these predictions. One of the earliest studies in the field found correlations between preoccupied attachment and increased symptom reporting and an inverse relationship between avoidant attachment and visits to health professionals. High attachment anxiety has been associated with increased symptom reporting and visits to healthcare providers, and high attachment avoidance associated with less visits and decreased treatment compliance