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Protection and survival are not the only functions of early attachments.

Attachments shape our sense of self, of other people, and of the world.

Attachments have a central role in brain development and regulation of emotions.

The blueprints for our sense of who we are, our future relationships, and our development arise from a combination of our genetic givens and our experiences. The person or people to whom we are attached during our first few years (the caregiving environment) will have a major influence on how we develop.

The initial functions of the primary attachment bond are protection and survival, both of which depend on the presence of an adequate caregiver. John Bowlby, a British psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who studied young children separated from their parents during wartime, concluded that the caregiver relationship was as vital to mental health as nutrients were to physical health, and that attachment behaviors are biologically based (Bowlby, 1973). When infants feel stressed or threatened, the attachment system is activated, and they cry or signal the need for the caretaker in another way.

The second function of the attachment bond is the shaping of the sense of self, the sense of the other, and the expectations of how the world will respond to oneself. In early attachment relationships, the behaviors of each partner are shaping and being shaped by the other. Children’s attachment behaviors are intended to bring........

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