Summary of Robert T. Muller's Trauma and the Avoidant Client

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 Sandra came to see me because she was finding it increasingly difficult to function at work. She was irritable and unhappy for reasons she couldn’t understand. She rarely called her friends anymore and was not interested in going anywhere other than work.

#2 The attachment system is a biologically based system that is oriented toward seeking protection and maintaining proximity to the attachment figure in response to real or perceived threat or danger. The child gradually develops stable patterns of defense and affect regulation that adapt to the caregiving environment.

#3 The developmental research literature has identified four patterns of adult attachment: autonomous, avoidant, preoccupied, and unresolved. Adults who are autonomous, secure in their relationships, present a balanced, consistent, and objective view of early relationships. In contrast, adults who are avoidant or preoccupied with their past relationships demonstrate discomfort with the discussion of such experiences.

#4 The typical course of life involves excluding information that is defensively excluded. This occurs when the child’s attachment behavior is strongly aroused, but is responded to inadequately by the parent. The child will feel prolonged distress rather than feeling soothed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Jun 5, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822518711

IRB Media

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Insights on Robert T. Muller's Trauma and the Avoidant Client

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

Sandra came to see me because she was finding it increasingly difficult to function at work. She was irritable and unhappy for reasons she couldn’t understand. She rarely called her friends anymore and was not interested in going anywhere other than work.

#2

The attachment system is a biologically based system that is oriented toward seeking protection and maintaining proximity to the attachment figure in response to real or perceived threat or danger. The child gradually develops stable patterns of defense and affect regulation that adapt to the caregiving environment.

#3

The developmental research literature has identified four patterns of adult attachment: autonomous, avoidant, preoccupied, and unresolved. Adults who are autonomous, secure in their relationships, present a balanced, consistent, and objective view of early relationships. In contrast, adults who are avoidant or preoccupied with their past relationships demonstrate discomfort with the discussion of such experiences.

#4

The typical course of life involves excluding information that is defensively excluded. This occurs when the child’s attachment behavior is strongly aroused, but is responded to inadequately by the parent. The child will feel prolonged distress rather than feeling soothed.

#5

Defensive exclusion can occur when a child observes aspects of their parent’s behavior that they would prefer not to know about. This can occur when parents are insistent that their children regard them in a positive light, and many children feel pressure to turn a blind eye to adverse parental treatment.

#6

The defensive exclusion of information is explainable in evolutionary terms given certain adverse circumstances. When such mental operations exclude information from awareness, painful emotions and memories are avoided.

#7

The client may have difficulty with many aspects of the interpersonal world because of a tendency to defensively exclude attachment-related information and experiences from awareness or to exclude the emotional meaning of such experiences.

#8