Dance of Attunement

By: Dr. Suzanne LaCombe, June 8, 2006.
Updated: March 7, 2010.

A few words of introduction from Dr. LaCombe:

The dance of attunement refers to what is probably the most important discovery in the last several decades regarding a theory of human emotional and psychological change. The concept was discovered by researchers who spent years observing and taping interactions between infants and their mothers.

The evidence is overwhelming: The nature and quality of development of the nervous system (i.e. the brain) literally depend on the nature and quality of interactions between the primary caretaker and the infant!

A caregiver can severely limit the development of the infant's stress coping mechanisms by being insensitive to, or even ignoring, what the infant is trying to communicate about its needs. Without some kind of therapeutic intervention, these missed opportunities for developing emotionally adaptive skills will haunt the adult that the child ultimately becomes.

With respect to some brain functions, vision for example, it appears that, unless the brain receives the right amount of stimulus at the right time, the neuropathways supporting that function will not be optimally wired, if at all. We will not have "learned" to see. In these cases the individual will suffer from a developmental deficit that can never be made whole.

However, it also appears that other kinds of gaps in brain development can be rectified to a large extent even in adulthood. In particular, taking advantage of the brain's residual plasticity, your therapist can update your original brain programming by in effect replicating the attuned relationship you should have had with your mother.

That's right, psychotherapy can change your brain!

Related Topic

Vision Develops During a Critical Period

Resources

Here's an animated diagram of attunement between mom and baby.