Securing the secure-base: reinstating the role of the paternal functions in the development of the combined object

This study originates from observing a profound lack of trust and safety in patients referred with attachment difficulties. These patients often came from non-traditional family-structures alongside traditionally structured families. However, attachment disorder formulation emphasises deficiencies in the mother and the maternal. There was a limited use of object relations theory in these formulations, alongside an emphasis on the typical ‘couple family’. In these formulations the maternal object, focusing on the mother, deals with the anxiety and the projections of the child, whereas the paternal and combined aspects are being neglected. With the Covid pandemic, a parallel in the experience of lack of trust and safety on national and political levels invaded the clinics and consulting rooms reinforcing the need for an understanding and formulation of the lack of security and trust at the social level. In the search for a better formulation to understand attachment difficulties using object relations theory, a gap was identified where such formulation was absent. There was a clear recognition for a need for a conceptual framework of attachment difficulties that utilises object relations theory within the context of internal object relations and external reality. This research offers a conceptual framework that moves beyond family structures and gender, eases the emphasis on the mother, while bringing together the maternal and paternal. This framework can be easily translated and communicated across the care system around the child and family.