Understanding Insecure Attachment: A Study Using Children's Bird Nest Imagery

Sandy Sheller

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Art Therapy and Mental Health Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research Child Therapy and Development

Abstract

This article describes a phenomenological study of the artistic creations of bird nests by four school-aged children to illuminate their internal experiences of attachment. The author analyzed qualitative data from in-depth interviews pertaining to two-dimensional and three-dimensional artistic representations of a bird's nest and a family of birds created by the child participants. Through the children's own voices and stories about their artwork, themes of danger, lack of protection, and vulnerability were elucidated. The study proposes that the Bird's Nest Drawing (BND) (Francis, Kaiser, & Deaver, 2003; Kaiser, 1996), and a Bird's Nest Sculpture (BNS) are valuable art therapy tools for understanding attachment schemas of children and their perceptions of their parental attachment-relationships.

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References

1994Handbook of Qualitative Research 1994Phenomenological research methods 1991Attachment styles among young adults: A test of a four-category model.1999Handbook of attachment: theory, research, and clinical applications 1989A secure base: parent-child attachment and healthy human development 1994Moustakas, Clark, Phenomenological Research Methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1994.1996Indications of attachment security in a drawing task 2003Representations of Attachment Security in the Bird's Nest Drawings of Clients with Substance Abuse Disorders

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2014Revisiting the Bird's Nest Drawing assessment: Toward a global approach 2019The bird's nest drawing and accompanying stories in the assessment of attachment security 2021Art Therapy and Prison Chaplaincy: A Review of Contemporary Practices Considering New Testament Teachings 2016Separateness and closeness as expressed in Bird’s Nest Drawings: Relationships with partners and with the unborn child among expectant parents 2023Attachment Representations of Female Child Sexual Abuse Survivors Reflected in the Bird’s Nest Drawing Assessment

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