ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Nervous mothers, cared-for children and the right environment: attachment theory in West and East Germany, 1950–1980

• In Event: The Making of Psychotherapeutic Knowledge: Research Practices, Epistemic Cultures, and Disciplinary Negotiations 1

English Abstract

Based on Bowlby's research on attachment for mentally healthy child development, published in England, attachment theory gained particular importance in both German states in the second half of the 20th century. The new knowledge was also discussed in Germany in (child) psychiatric, (social) educational, and psychological journals in the post-war period (Bowlby 1952, Dührssen 1953). The discourse on the ‘nervous’ mother took on particular significance. There was intense debate about how much a mother should be allowed to work in order to provide her child with a psychologically healthy development (controversial: Hellbrügge 1964 vs. Lehr 1973). In East Germany, this debate took a rather different course, as childcare was delegated to nurseries at an early stage. Due to contradictory research results and political demands, the introduction of a ‘baby year’ later took into account the knowledge about attachment that was becoming popular worldwide (controversial: Schmidt-Kolmer vs. Schmidt 1985).
The article links the question of the right environment for the prevention of mental development disorders with the question of the redefinition of gender-based care concepts at a time when traditional family concepts in both German states were becoming increasingly diverse. The analysis focuses on the mother's health education for a mentally healthy lifestyle. Knowledge about attachment was by no means politically neutral, but proved to be exemplary within and between states for the importance of knowledge in pluralistic worlds. The focus is on the discussion of how the role of one of the most famous psychological theories of the 20th century was negotiated in completely different ways in a capitalist and a socialist state. This gave rise to different ideas about optimal maternal care and the design of child-friendly environments for the prevention of mental disorders.

Author

• Viola Balz