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Part II    Psychodynamic Theories168
other hand, theysquirm tobeputdown andmaythrow away toysthattheirmother 
hasoffered them.
About 20%ofAmerican babies show theavoidant ordismissive attachment 
style. With thisstyle, infants staycalm when theirmother leaves; theyaccept the
stranger, andwhen theirmother returns, theyignore andavoid her.Inbothkinds of
insecure attachment (anxious-resistant andanxious-avoidant), infants lacktheability 
toengage ineffective playandexploration.
Fivepercent orfewer ofAmerican infants areclassified asdisorganized intheir
attachment style. These babies show noclearorconsistent pattern ofbehaviors during 
thecourse oftheStrange Situation, either when theircaregiver leaves orwhen shereturns.
Psychotherapy
Klein, Mahler, Kohut, andBowlby wereallpsychoanalysts trained inorthodox Freudian 
practices. However, eachmodified psychoanalytic treatment tofitherorhisowntheo-
retical orientation. Because these theorists varied among themselves ontherapeutic pro-
cedures, wewilllimitourdiscussion oftherapy totheapproach usedbyMelanie Klein.
Klein’s pioneering useofpsychoanalysis withchildren wasnotwellaccepted 
byother analysts during the1920s and1930s. Anna Freud wasespecially resistive to
thenotion ofchildhood psychoanalysis, contending thatyoung children whowerestill
attached totheirparents could notdevelop atransference tothetherapist because they
havenounconscious fantasies orimages. Therefore, sheclaimed, young children could 
notprofit from psychoanalytic therapy. Incontrast, Klein believed thatbothdisturbed 
andhealthy children should bepsychoanalyzed; disturbed children would receive the
Secure attachment tocaregivers isanimportant partoftheprocess ofdeveloping relationships withother 
people. Ingram PublishingFinal PDF to printer