As an altricial species, humans require care during their early years. Failure to attach to caregivers can be fatal, as children cannot survive without it. If caregivers dismiss or reject a child's prototypical attachment behaviours, the child must adapt to survive. Adaptive patterns are internal working models that facilitate adequate attachment to caregivers and enhance survival, but they also foster a conditional sense of safety; safety is earned through actions that sustain the attachment. Here, it is proposed that conditional attachment experiences become linked to an enduring affective state that is gradually recognised as homeostatic. Maintaining this homeostasis maximises survival chances. The free energy principle suggests that prediction models, which have a high degree of overlap with internal working models, operate to sustain homeostasis. Prediction models do not alter affective homeostasis to fit changing environments. Instead, they update the individual's perception, cognition, and behaviour patterns to preserve the established homeostasis. Early attachment relationships that require these survival-driven adaptations can lead to psychological disorders. As individuals mature, disorders may develop, persist, or worsen due to prediction model adaptations aimed at maintaining homeostasis.
Introduction : In many Iranian cultural contexts, emotional intimacy is often considered an important component of close relationships. This may reflect cultural differences in caregiving and attachment styles. In psychoanalysis and psychotherapy, such attachment emerges in the bond between analyst and analysand. In light of increasing emigration from Iran, this study explores the under-researched phenomenon of analyst migration from a qualitative perspective, with particular attention to attachment theory and cultural dynamics. Methods : Semi-structured interviews were conducted with ten analysands. Interviews were carried out by a trained psychiatrist, transcribed, and analysed using reflexive thematic analysis. Results : Ten common themes and eighteen sub-themes were identified and grouped into two overarching categories: progression and regression. Conclusion : Analyst migration triggers complex emotional responses and alters the therapeutic relationship. The analytic matrix plays a key role in maintaining the continuity of treatment; however, the experience is profoundly shaped by cultural and interpersonal dynamics.
Attachment theory and psychoanalysis share a fundamental premise that early relational experiences shape the psychic structures through which individuals come to understand themselves, others, and the social world. While attachment theory conceptualises these structures as the internal working model (IWM), psychoanalysis describes them as introjects and internal objects. This article extends this thinking by examining how racialised experience informs the development of relational templates in childhood. It argues that racial identity formation is inherently relational and is mediated through processes central to attachment such as mirroring, attunement, validation, and protection. For racialised children, caregiver responsiveness is shaped by racial socialisation practices, internalised racial narratives, and exposure to structural racism. These experiences become encoded within the IWM, forming what is proposed as the racial internal working model (RIWM), a framework for organising expectations of racial recognition, safety, and belonging. Extending Ainsworth et al.'s (1978) attachment patterns, this article proposes four racial attachment patterns; secure, avoidant, ambivalent anxious, and disorganised and situates them within the racial ecological and intergenerational contexts. It further explores how these dynamics manifest within the therapeutic relationship through the "cultural third" where therapist and the client's cultural differences intersect within the intersubjective field (Aggarwal, 2011). This framework positions race and racism as central to child development and clinical work by offering a relational lens for fostering racial security and provides anonymised clinical vignettes.
As I reflect on my journey through life, both personally and professionally, I recognise the profound impact that ageing has had on my perspectives and experiences. I aim to shed light on the intricate relationship between personal and professional growth, responsibilities, and the awareness of life’s briefness. To me, ageing affects perspectives, leading to mortality contemplation. In this article, I will compare different culture and generation’s attitude towards ageing.
This short article examines the pressure that can emerge inside us as a result of an impending ending, in psychotherapy or in life itself as we age. The author highlights how the Japanese art of Kintsugi can act as a metaphor for the gathering up and re-connecting of pieces or parts of ourselves that we might attempt to do in an honouring way as we assimilate our experiences towards the latter part of life.
