Abstract
This paper argues that insights into infant emotional development, particularly the capacity to engage with rupture and repair, can be applied to the understanding and promotion of flourishing in later life, individually and socially. Starting with the Queen’s visit to the Republic of Ireland as an example of successful social repair after rupture that enables flourishing, the paper goes on to outline some relevant psychological theory that undergirds this. It then considers some of the practical relevance and problems that apply to rupture and repair in the contemporary world, particularly the world of health care, Amidst the inevitable messiness of life, flourishing and growth can only be achieved with the kind of flexibility implied by creating repair in the face of rupture.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). (2014). Queen wraps up ‘astonishing’ Ireland visit. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-05-21/queen-wraps-up-astonishing-ireland-visit/2723410. Accessed 8 Dec 2014.
Bates, S., & McDonald, H. (2011). Irish eyes are smiling: Show of respect turns Queen into runaway favourite. Guardian Newspaper. http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/may/19/queen-ireland-visit-respect-adams. Accessed 8 Dec 2014.
Beeghly, M., & Troncik, E. (2011). Early resilience in the context of parent-infant relationships: A social developmental perspective. Current Problems in Pediatric and Adolescent Health Care, 4(7), 197–201.
Berwick D. (2013). A promise to learn. A commitment to act. Department of Health. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/226703/Berwick_Report.pdf. Accessed 7 July 2015.
Di Corcia, J., & Tronick, E. (2011). Quotidian resilience: Exploring mechanisms that drive resilience from a perspective of everyday stress and coping. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 35, 1593–1602.
Edmondson, A. (2004). Learning from failure in health care: Frequent opportunities, pervasive barriers. Quality and Safety in Healthcare, 13, ii3–ii9.
Field, T., Healy, B., Goldstein, S., Perry, S., Bendell, D., Schanberg, S., et al. (1988). Infants of depressed mothers show “depressed” behaviour even with nondepressed adults. Child Development, 59(6), 1569–1579.
Fogel, A. (2000). Systems, attachment and relationships. Human Development, 43, 314–320.
Fogel, A. (2011). Theoretical and applied dynamic systems research in developmental science. Child Development Perspectives, 5(4), 267–272.
Fredrickson, B. L., & Losada, M. F. (2005). Positive affect and complex dynamics of human flourishing. American Psychologist, 60, 678–686.
Haskayne, D., et al. (2014). What are the experiences of therapeutic rupture and repair for clients and therapists within long-term psychodynamic therapy? British Journal of Psychotherapy, 30(1), 68–86.
Higgins M. D. (2014). Address to UK parliament by President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins—Tuesday 8 April 2014. http://www.parliament.uk/documents/lords-information-office/2014/address-to-parliament-Irish-president-michael-d-higgins.pdf. Accessed 8 Dec 2014.
Lewis, J. (2000). Repairing the bond in important relationships: A dynamic for personality maturation. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 157, 1375–1378.
Maben, J., Latter, S., & Macleod Clark, J. (2007). The sustainability of ideals, values and the nursing mandate: Evidence from a longitudinal qualitative study. Nursing Inquiry, 14(2), 99–113.
Merrick J. (2011). Hats off, Ma’am! The Queen in Ireland. The inside story of a diplomatic coup. Independent 22.5.2011. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/hats-off-maam-the-queen-in-ireland-the-inside-story-of-a-diplomatic-coup-2287454.html. Accessed 8 Dec 2014.
National Scientific Council on the Developing Child. (2012). The science of neglect: The Persistent absence of responsive care disrupts the developing brain. Working Paper 12. Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University. http://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/reports_and_working_papers/working_papers/wp12/. Accessed 20 Apr 2015.
Nitsun, M. (1996). The anti-group. Destructive forces in the group and their creative potential: Routledge.
Skowron, E., et al. (2010). Differentiation, self-other representations and rupture-repair processes: Predicting child maltreatment risk. The Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57(3), 304–316.
Steven, A., Magnusson, C., Smith, P., & Pearson, P. (2014). Patient safety in nursing education: Contexts, tensions and feeling safe to learn. Nurse Education Today, 34(2), 277–284.
Stolorow, R. (1997). Dynamic, dyadic, intersubjective systems: An evolving paradigm for psychoanalysis. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 14(3), 337–346.
Suchman, A. (2011). Organizations as machines, organizations as conversations: Two core metaphors and their consequences. Medical Care, 49, s43–s48.
Tronick, E. (2004). Why is connection with others so critical? Dyadic meaning making, messiness, and complexity governed selective processes which co-create and expand individuals’ states of consciousness. In J. Nadel & D. Muir (Eds.), Emotional development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Tronick. (2007). The neurobehavioral and social-emotional development of infants and children. W.W. Norton & Company. Weblink to Still Face Experiment: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apzXGEbZht0).
Tronick, E., & Beeghly, M. (2011). Infants’ meaning-making and the development of mental health. American Psychologist, 66(2), 107–119.
Weinberg, M. K., Olson, K., Beeghly, M., & Tronick, E. (2006). Making up is hard to do, especially for mothers with high levels of depressive symptoms and their infant sons. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 47(7), 670–683.
Whitener, E., Brodt, S., Korsgaard, M. A., & Werner, J. (1998). Managers as initiators of trust: An exchange relationship framework for understanding managerial trustworthy behavior. Academy of Management Review, 23(3), 513–530.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Morton, M. We Can Work it Out: The Importance of Rupture and Repair Processes in Infancy and Adult Life for Flourishing. Health Care Anal 24, 119–132 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-016-0319-1
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-016-0319-1