Space and Place: the Horror of Detachment in Emma Donoghue’s Room

Like any other work devoted to spatial criticism, the present paper attempts to crystallize the significant role of space and place in literature and literary studies. The paper offers a study of different aspects of space in Emma Donoghue’s claustrophobic novel Room (2010). Room is the story of a five-year-old boy called Jack who was born in captivity in a room and was brought up solely by his mom in a confined space. The haunting effect of space, Jack’s bond with an unknown cyberspace, his place attachment and the psychological aftermath of his detachment from room and his final trauma after being released from the room will be discussed in details in this study. However, the main challenge of this study is the concept of place attachment and the aftermath of detachment for Jack as a child protagonist. The paper then highlights the way spatial aspects create that kind of attachment. The novel will be examined within the triangle of space criticism, attachment theory and trauma theory. The study concludes by stating to what extent the psychological bond caused between man’s psyche and place creates attachment and how disruption in this attachment ends up in psychological trauma in the same person. Keywords: Attachment, Place Attachment, Disruption in Place Attachment, Trauma, Cyberspace.

Conceptual Analysis: A Social Neuroscience Approach to Interpersonal Interaction in the Context of Disruption and Disorganization of Attachment (NAMDA)

Humans are strongly dependent upon social resources for allostasis and emotion regulation. This applies especially to early childhood because humans—as an altricial species—have a prolonged period of dependency on support and input from caregivers who typically act as sources of co-regulation. Accordingly, attachment theory proposes that the history and quality of early interactions with primary caregivers shape children's internal working models of attachment. In turn, these attachment models guide behavior, initially with the set goal of maintaining proximity to caregivers but eventually paving the way to more generalized mental representations of self and others. Mounting evidence in non-clinical populations suggests that these mental representations coincide with differential patterns of neural structure, function, and connectivity in a range of brain regions previously associated with emotional and cognitive capacities. What is currently lacking, however, is an evidence-based account of how early adverse attachment-related experiences and/or the emergence of attachment disorganization impact the developing brain. While work on early childhood adversities offers important insights, we propose that how these events become biologically embedded crucially hinges on the context of the child–caregiver attachment relationships in which the events take place. Our selective review distinguishes between direct social neuroscience research on disorganized attachment and indirect maltreatment-related research, converging on aberrant functioning in neurobiological systems subserving aversion, approach, emotion regulation, and mental state processing in the wake of severe attachment disruption. To account for heterogeneity of findings, we propose two distinct neurobiological phenotypes characterized by hyper- and hypo-arousal primarily deriving from the caregiver serving either as a threatening or as an insufficient source of co-regulation, respectively.

A Social Neuroscience Approach to Interpersonal Interaction in the Context of Disruption and Disorganization of Attachment (NAMDA)

Humans are strongly dependent upon social resources for allostasis and emotion regulation. This applies especially to early childhood because humans – as an altricial species – have a prolonged period of dependency on support and input from caregivers who typically act as sources of co-regulation. Accordingly, attachment theory proposes that the history and quality of early interactions with primary caregivers shape children’s internal working models of attachment. In turn, these attachment models guide behavior, initially with the set goal of maintaining proximity to caregivers, but eventually paving the way to more generalized mental representations of self and others. Mounting evidence in nonclinical populations suggests that these mental representations coincide with differential patterns of neural structure, function, and connectivity in a range of brain regions previously associated with emotional and cognitive capacities. What is currently lacking, however, is an evidence-based account of how early adverse attachment-related experiences and/or the emergence of attachment disorganization impact the developing brain. While work on early childhood adversities offers important insights, we propose that how these events become biologically embedded crucially hinges on the context of the child-caregiver attachment relationships in which the events take place. Our selective review distinguishes between direct social neuroscience research on disorganized attachment and indirect maltreatment-related research, converging on aberrant functioning in neurobiological systems subserving aversion, approach, emotion regulation, and mental state processing in the wake of severe attachment disruption. To account for heterogeneity of findings, we propose two distinct neurobiological phenotypes characterized by hyper- and hypo-arousal primarily deriving from the caregiver serving either as a threatening or as an insufficient source of co-regulation, respectively.

Why Some Children Come to School with “Baggage”: The Effects of Trauma Due to Poverty, Attachment Disruption and Disconnection on Social Skills and Relationships

Children living in adverse conditions of poverty and/or abuse or in institutional or foster care, suffer physiological changes in their developing brains which negatively affect their social skills and therefore their ability to socialize and form meaningful connections with others. Impeded social skills development also interferes with children’s ability to demonstrate self-control, to learn and to demonstrate appropriate behaviour. Their physical and emotional health and wellbeing also suffer. Without greater understanding, intervention and support from schools, the future for these children continues to look extremely bleak. The emotional and social costs are high. This paper looks at the effects of trauma due to poverty, parent-child separation (attachment disruption) and disconnection on social skills development in children and the reasons why some children who have experienced adversity early in their lives, come to school with “baggage”. It takes a cursory look at the effects of emotional trauma on the developing brain and examines why affected children often demonstrate anti-social behaviour and struggle with forming meaningful relationships and learning in school. Also considered are the problems encountered by some children at the upper end of the socioeconomic spectrum, most particularly their difficulties making friends.

Early Life Loss and Trauma

The onset of an eating disorder in middle-age men is poorly researched as are eating disorders in men generally. Therefore, life events that influence eating disorders in men, including delayed onset of an eating disorder remains unknown. Given the limited understanding of males with eating disorders and limited access to large samples of men with eating disorders, an in-depth analysis of a single case of a male in middle age with an eating disorder was chosen to gain insight and understanding into this phenomenon. A Life History approach explored the case of Joseph (pseudonym), who was diagnosed at age 44 years with an Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified. Data were collected through (a) life course open-ended questioning through interviews, (b) written statements, and (c) comments on transcripts. Three themes emerged, loss and unworthiness, becoming bigger, and wanting to change reflecting eating behaviors associated with attachment disruption, loss and trauma, body dissatisfaction, and negative affect. Later in life, an emotional “tipping point” precipitated an eating disorder. Results indicate traumatic loss leading to early attachment disruption as influential in Joseph’s delayed onset of an eating disorder. The value of thorough narrative life histories during therapy when eating disorders occur late in life is discussed as well as the significance for men.