A First Look at Attachment

Compared to babies in early civilizations, babies in the modern era are by-and-large experiencing less attunement with those around them. Lesson Three discusses this topic in depth, but essentially attunement is a type of safe emotional connection that is very important for babies and children during their developmental years. Many common parenting practices and environmental factors are denying infants of the attunement they need for healthy brain development.

Children cry because they have no other way to ask for their needs. When someone’s needs aren’t being met, their brain is flooded with stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline). If a baby’s brain is chronically flooded with these hormones, it will impede their brain development. All this to say, modern society’s conventions are causing many babies’ brains to adapt to circumstances they weren’t designed for, increasing their risk for mental conditions, physical illnesses, and all kinds of maldevelopment. 

So at this point Gabor has called attention to two important characteristics of today’s culture

1. We have increased stress due to circumstances we did not evolve to live in
2. We have decreased attunement with each other due to a lack of connection

So, in general, we are exposing ourselves to prolonged stress and doing nothing to mitigate its long-term effects. When discussing the drastic increase in drug addictions, overdoses, mental disorders, and physical illnesses, this is a component that most doctors fail to acknowledge. 

As Gabor demonstrates with a show of hands from his audience, essentially no one has had their doctors ask them about their childhood, their trauma, or their self-perception when trying to treat them for illnesses. Gabor believes that if the Western medical mind would address the mind-body connection more, it would greatly increase their knowledge and quality of treatment for any and all medical conditions. Separating the body from the mind when it comes to medical approaches is unscientific and ineffective.