Impact of Early Childhood Experiences on the Play Therapy - Essay Example

? How the early childhood experiences may impact on the play therapy relationship? Introduction Based on the stages of development, child developmentis divided into three broad categories such as infancy (up to 3 years), early childhood (3 to 6 years) and later childhood (6 to 12 years). A child may undergo different physical, mental, cognitive and emotional changes during each stage of his/her development. No two individual are alike either physically or mentally. Even siblings who brought up in the same environment may have different physical cognitive, emotional and mental characteristics. Williams (2006) argued that “Children who grow up in an unpredictable place of violence and threat live with fear and anguish, and adapt by becoming attuned to the abuser’s inner states” (p.323). On the other hand, Hart (2008) pointed that “Children who are prone to developing aggressiveness will unfold aggressive tendencies if they grow up in high risk families” (Hart, 2008, p.9). In short, heredity and environment are the major factors which affect the development of a child. Different children may face different experiences during their childhood because of the peculiarities of the surroundings or environment. Even children in the same family and environment may face different childhood experiences. For example, it is quite possible that one girl among a sibling sisters, faces sexual exploitation while the other does not. In other words, these two sisters might have faced entirely different childhood experiences. Therefore, they may develop differently even if they brought up in the same family and environment. In short, early childhood experiences have the ability to shape the emotional, cognitive, physical and mental development of a child. Mother’s attachment is perhaps the first realistic experience a child may get from this world. Based on the magnitude of attachment received from the mother, a child or infant develops and expresses in different ways. Mother’s neglect is intolerable to infants. Such childhood experiences may result in trauma which can be treated with the help of play therapy. Play is an interesting activity which is selected by the children to express their attitudes and emotions. Therefore play therapy is often suggested as a remedy to the trauma faced by the children during their childhood. Play therapy is employed among children between the ages 3-11, as a method to express their experiences and feelings and to heal the trauma they might have faced during childhood. This paper analyses the importance of play therapy in healing childhood trauma with the help of attachment theories. Attachment theory and patterns “The presence of the mother, who provides warmth, tactile stimulation, nurturance, and a stable base from which to explore the environment, is necessary to stimulate attachment among children” (Curley, 2011, p.274). Attachment theory is developed by John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth with the help of concepts such as ethology, cybernetics, information processing, developmental psychology, and psychoanalysts. This theory has rewritten many of the traditional theories with respect to the attachment of children with their mothers. Bowlby and Ainsworth formulated attachment theory with the help of perspectives such as “The Nature of the Child’s Tie to His Mother”, “Separation Anxiety” and “Grief and Mourning in Infancy and Early Childhood”(Bretherton, 1992, p.767) According to Bretherton (1992), child’s libidinal tie to the mother depends primarily on need satisfaction. Attachment is derived from the need satisfaction (Bretherton, 1992, p.767). In short, a child’s attachment towards his mother depends on how well the mother satisfies his needs. If the mother fails to satisfy the needs of the child, he may not develop much attachment with the mother. It should be noted that plenty of mothers in the modern era are working professionals. Such mothers often leave their children in day care centers, since nannies are the ones who satisfy their needs. Such children may not develop any attachment or intimacy towards their mothers. “Drawing on ethological concepts regarding the control of behavior, Bowlby maintained that infants and children experience separation anxiety when a situation activates both escape and attachment behavior” (Bretherton, 1992, p.768). It should be noted that infants often cry loudly when the mothers leave them in company of strangers. On the other hand, if they get the company of familiar ones, they may not cry that much. As mentioned earlier, infants may not cry much when they get the company of their nannies. However, they may cry loudly when they happen to be in the company of strangers. This is because of the fact that children may not develop attachment with the strangers. When thy happen to be in the company of strangers, they will be motivated by a sense of escaping. That is why they resist the company of strangers to whom they have fewer attachments. Plenty of psychologists in the past believed that grief and mourning are strange feelings to infants because of the lack of development of ego. However, Bowlby questioned this concept and argued that ‘grief and mourning processes in children appear whenever attachment behaviors are activated but the attachment figure continues to be unavailable” (Bretherton, 1992, p.769). A child develops attachment to his mother first. Bowlby believed that grief and mourning develop along with attachment. In other words, a child who has the ability to develop attachment with something may have the capacity to grieve and mourn. Mary Ainsworth further expanded Bowlby’s attachment theory with the help of her "Strange Situation" study. In order to analyze the patterns of behaviors of child, Ainsworth created a strange situation which can be illustrated as follows (Cherry, 2013) It is evident that the child may not feel comfort in the company of the stranger, especially when the mother is absent in the room. When mother returns, the child may feel lot of comfort. This is because of the attachment or the feeling of security a child enjoys in the company of his mother. He may not enjoy the same security feeling in the company of strangers. Based on the assessment of the strange situation, Ainsworth has identified four major attachment styles such as secure attachment, ambivalent-insecure attachment, avoidant-insecure attachment and disorganized-insecure attachment. Children with secure attachment with their caregivers or mothers may become upset when the mother or the caregiver leaves them even for a temporary period. They will show a relief when they see the mother, the father or the caregiver returns. For example, a child staying in a day care center may show make loud noise when he sees his mother or father returns from his/her workplace. Moreover, securely attached children may show more readiness in playing with their parents. Securely attached children may not show aggression in their behavior. Most of them develop in a positive manner and become good citizens. Children with ambivalent attachment may show more discomfort in the company of strangers. Such children may not show comfort even while their parents or caregiver returns. They may show aggression toward their caregivers or parents. Such children may become over dependent on others even for simple things. Moreover, they may not establish relationships easily. They are more interested in breaking relationships than establishing it. Children with avoidant attachment may not care their parents or caregivers seriously. In fact they may not show rejoice in the company of caregivers, especially when the caregivers left them for a longer period. For example, plenty of parents have the habit of going abroad for jobs while leaving their children in the company of other family members. Such parents visit their children once or twice in a year. Children may not show much attachment towards such parents. They always like to have the company of parents to develop secure attachment. Children with disorganized attachment style are unpredictable in their behaviors. Sometimes they may show deep attachment to their parents or caregivers, even if they left them for a longer period. They may behave in an entirely different manner on other occasions. Disorganized behavior of the children is the outcome of the disorganized behavior of the parents or the caregivers. Suppose the parents contact the children through phone quite regularly even when they are staying distantly. Children of such parents may show deep attachment when they see their parents after a long period. On the other hand, if the parents fail to communicate properly with the children, while staying away from them, deep attachment may not develop. “At all ages, secure attachment can create resiliency and help buffer an individual against the worst effects of trauma (Williams, 2006, p.325). Children brought up in troubled families may often become antisocial elements since their growth and development may not take place in a positive environment. For example, fighting parents may not get enough time to take care of their children. Neglect from the parents may create vengeance in the minds of children. Their vengeances may often be utilized against the peers. Plenty of researches have proved that juvenile criminals mostly came from troubled families or families with domestic violence. Pipp-Siegel et al.(1999) mentioned that “specific behaviors may be observed when infants have a disorganized/disoriented attachment relation to their caregiver” (p.27). More than 20 innocent school children were killed and many others were injured by a school shooting incident recently in America. Reports have showed that the killer was from a single parent family. In other words, his parents were living separately after the divorce. The love mother cannot be substituted for the love of father or vice versa. Fatherly and motherly love affects the children differently. Father’s love gives a kind of protection whereas mother’s love gives a kind of affection to the children. Sense of protection and sense of affection are equally important for the healthy development of a child. When any of these two pillars of child development fail to function properly, the child’s physical, cognitive, emotional and psychological domains may not develop properly. “In recent studies of human, mothers who maintained high levels of estradiol before and after the birth childbirth had higher feelings of attachment to their own infants in the early postpartum days than women whose estradiol levels were lower” (Maestripieri, 2001, p.82). Estradiol is a sex hormone present in females. It helps the men and women to engage in sexual intercourse properly and derive maximum psychological pleasure from it. It should be noted that sexual intercourse provides a pleasant feeling only when the moods of the male and female are suitable for such an action. Both body and mind take part in the sexual activities and hence it is necessary for the men and women to keep their body and mind prepared for the intercourse. If these conditions are not satisfied, sexual activities may provide a painful feeling. Such painful feelings may often result in the neglect towards the children. In short, healthy sexual life is necessary for the parents to provide develop attachment towards their children. A child taken birth from a rape incident may not get enough care and love from his mother since the mother may always consider that child as an unwanted one. In short, sexual life plays an important role in the development of attachment between parents and children. Neurobiological theory of attachment Understanding the neurobiological mechanisms and brain substrates of social attachment not only may be important in understanding normal emotions, such as love and separation, but also could aid our understanding and treatment of abnormal social behaviors that characterize several psychiatric diseases, such as autism, depression, and schizophrenia (Trezza & Campolongo, 2009, p.1). Human memory is often been classified in to two broad categories; explicit and implicit. Explicit memory is familiar to all since it is active when a person is active. In other words, whatever the things we recall are coming from explicit memory. Explicit memory can be accessed easily by a person. On the other hand implicit memory cannot be accessed easily by a person since many of its characteristics such as cognitions, emotions, behaviors and perceptions are unfamiliar to him. “During the first two years of life, while the brain is still developing, most learning is occurring through implicit memory processes. Many attachment-related memories are implicit” (Attachment Theory and the Brain: An Interview with Dr. Daniel Sonkin, 2009). Such memories are often activated by events which are emotionally motivated. That is why it is often said that love and care are the best treatment options for children with psychological problems such as depression, schizophrenia and autism. Schore (2001) pointed out that “The infant's early developing right hemisphere has deep connections into the limbic and autonomic nervous systems and is dominant for the human stress response, and in this manner the attachment relationship facilitates the expansion of the child's coping capacities” (p.7). Oxytocin is a hormone which acts as a neuromodulator in brain. It has many roles in sexual reproduction. At the time of child birth, breast feeding etc, this hormone plays a vital role in helping the mother and the child to develop a bondage or attachment. “Dopamine pathways contribute to the processing of infant-related sensory cues leading to a behavioural response. Oxytocin may activate the dopaminergic reward pathways in response to social cues”(Strathearn, 2011, p.1054) Networks of highly conserved hypothalamic-midbrain-limbic-paralimbic-cortical circuits act in concert to support aspects of parent response to infants, including the emotion, attention, motivation, empathy, decision-making and other thinking that are required to navigate the complexities of parenting. Specifically, infant stimuli activate basal forebrain regions, which regulate brain circuits that handle specific nurturing and caregiving responses and activate the brain's more general circuitry for handling emotions, motivation, attention, and empathy--all of which are crucial for effective parenting. An integrated understanding of the brain basis of parenting has profound implications for mental health (Swain et al., 2007, p.262) Maternal separation trauma in early years and the role of play therapy in settling it As mentioned earlier, plenty of mothers in the modern era are working professionals. They were forced to separate from their infants temporarily because of their professional commitments. Even such temporary maternal separations may create trauma in the minds of the infants. Infants always like the company of their mother. They do not care much if the father is separated for a while. However, the attachment is between an infant and mother is much stronger than the attachment between the father and the infant. Thus, maternal separations are unacceptable to the infants under all circumstances. Play therapy is often suggested for infants or children who face temporary maternal separation. Music (2011) pointed out that “Play and play therapy increase the capacity for self-regulation and executive functioning” (p.128). Children derive immense pleasure from play. They may forget the trauma when they get opportunities for free play. “Free play helps children to follow their own interests” (Music, 2011, p.128). It should be noted that maternal separation was occurred against their interest. Therefore, when they get opportunities to take part in activities which are interested to them, they will forget about the trauma. “Adulthood free association is equivalent to childhood play. Children use play to express their preoccupations symbolically” (Music, 2011, p.129). Free association is often prescribed as a stress reliving option for adults. In other words, adults often forget their stress when they get an opportunity to talk freely with a friend or beloved one about his worries. Same way, childhood play helps children to relive the stress accumulated by the maternal separation trauma. Conclusions The attachment with the mother plays an important role in the social, cognitive, behavioural, physical emotional and mental development of a child. Even a short break from mother’s company may cause trauma to the child. Mother’s love and care are special to the children. In other words, children value the love of mother as the most important thing during their developmental stages. No other love or attachment can substitute for the attachment given by the mothers. Under such circumstances, separation from mother’s company even for a short period of time may create trauma in the minds of children. Play therapy is suggested as an option to reduce the trauma caused by maternal separation. Play therapy helps the child to concentrate on an activity interested to him and thereby forget about the trauma. Children may not think about the loss of mother’s attachment at the time of playing, since free play is an interesting activity for them. Play and play therapy help children to regulate their emotions and functioning. In other words, play therapy helps children to avoid unwanted thoughts or negative feeling. In short play therapy is a good remedy for children who are facing childhood trauma due to maternal separation. References Attachment Theory and the Brain: An Interview with Dr. Daniel Sonkin, 2009. [Online] Available at: http://neuronarrative.wordpress.com/2009/01/12/attachment-theory-and-the-brain-an-interview-with-dr-daniel-sonkin/[Accessed 19 January 2013] Bretherton, I. 1992. The origins of attachment theory: John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth. Developmental Psychology (1992), 28, 759-775. Cherry K. 2013. Attachment Styles. [Online] Available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/loveandattraction/ss/attachmentstyle_2.htm[Accessed 19 January 2013] Curley, JP 2011, 'The mu-opioid receptor and the evolution of mother-infant attachment: Theoretical comment on Higham et al. (2011)', Behavioral Neuroscience, 125, 2, pp. 273-278. Hart, S 2008, 'Brain, attachment, personality: An introduction to neuroaffective development'', Karnac Books, 29-Aug-2008 Maestripieri, D 2001, 'Biological bases of maternal attachment', American Psychological Association. Volume 10, No 3. June 2001.   Music, G. 2011. Nurturing natures: attachment and children's emotional, sociocultural, and brain development . Taylor & Francis US, 2011 Pipp-Siegel, S, Siegel, C, & Dean, J 1999, 'Neurological aspects of the disorganized/disoriented attachment classification system: Differentiating quality of the attachment relationship from neurological impairment', Monographs Of  The Society For Research In Child Development, 64, 3, pp. 25-44. 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