Dynamic-Maturational Model (DMM) of Attachment and Adaptation developed by a student of Mary Ainsworth (the creator of the famous experiment "Unfamiliar Situation", who identified three types of attachment) – Patricia Crittenden.
The DMM model is unique in that it considers a person's behavioral and mental patterns as the most effective strategy for responding to danger in different contexts of life and at different age stages, as well as the author's specification of well-known attachment strategies.
Patricia Crittenden continued her work with the attachment types identified by M. Ainsworth and created a unique system of attachment subgroups that describes in detail the features of mental and behavioral patterns in people with different attachment strategies.
The DMM is based on the idea that the experience of mental and physical care in a child depends on the quality of an adult's care, his sensitivity to recognizing the needs of a child, their satisfaction, and the predictability of adult reactions. Attachment strategies are considered as the most adaptive mechanisms for building security relationships with a significant attachment figure. That is, no matter how the parent manifests himself, the child will build a relationship with him, the function of which is to increase the well–being of the relationship. It is assumed that the price that a child will pay is how he will function when he grows up. The variants of functioning are described in detail in the classification of P. Crittenden.
The work of P. Crittenden is also interesting in the interpretation of the last – the fourth type of attachment, which Mary Main called disorganized. Patricia Crittenden, on the other hand, identified this strategy as the most suitable for dangerous conditions of human development and therefore called it a complex organized attachment strategy.
This unique classification includes 4 main attachment strategies and 12 subtypes (for adults).
It can help to deeply understand the client:
Mental patterns
Behavioral patterns
Attachment Needs and Fears