Attachment relationships and danger in family life span

A main function of being a parent is to supply a “secure base”, i.e. a particular feeling of safety and trust in an attachment relationship. This necessity is also a characteristic of adult age and it may manifest in couple romantic love, friendship and in relation between adult offspring and parents. In couple and family life, the secure base function is particularly evident during pregnancy, in the period following the birth of a child, during the adolescence and the emancipation of the offspring and in every stressful and potentially dangerous period. An important male function, in perinatal period, seems to supply a secure base for his companion, helping her to overcome the difficulties, keeping the suffering at endurance levels and fostering the conditions by which the special relation between the mother and the baby can develop in an adequate way. In fact, preoccupied, too anxious or depressed fathers, or those with behavioural problems (pathological aggressiveness, alcoholism, addiction disorders), can be a handicap for the emotional equilibrium of their companion and for the good development of the relationship between mother and child. A lack of this protective function can foster an affective disorder in the mother and negatively influence the attachment and psychomotor development of the child.