Attachment Theory

Like Family Systems Theory, I use Attachment Theory as a way to help clients process their relationships to their parents and their partners. This approach I use less frequently, but it is something I employ when there is significant anxiety around relationships with parents or partners.

Attachment theory, first developed by John Bowlby, is a psychology concept focused on the importance of attachment in relation to personal development. Fundamental to attachment theory is the belief that a child's relationship with the primary caregiver (usually the mother), affects their attachment style for the rest of their life. Unresolved or insecure attachment issues experienced in early childhood can have a negative impact on relationships into adulthood.

We are hardwired for attachment to our parents or guardians from the moment we are conceived. We could not survive without them. When this hardwiring is not met in childhood due to adoption, abuse, or neglect, we can often not attach to others. Corrective attachment work can re-establish what they did not receive in childhood for many people.

Attachment Theory focuses on how our adult selves were impacted by childhood and adolescent relationships and experiences. We all need emotional attunement, support, kindness, and challenge from our care givers and loved ones so that we can enjoy healthy and balance relationships with others and ourselves. Through an attachment lens, I encourage clients to reflect on the impact their upbringing had on who they are today, from their greatest strengths to their greatest struggles.

Each of us has a story, and that begins with your formative relationships: the people who shaped your way of relating to those around you and yourself. If you will allow yourself to walk through both the stunning beauty and stunning brokenness of those relationships it is possible to find a freedom you have never known, a greater ability to change the painful dynamics in your life, and deeper kindness for both yourself and those you love.

Understanding one's attachment style alongside other attachment styles, generally known as anxious, avoidant, and secure attachment styles, helps illuminate great opportunities for interpersonal and personal growth in one's life. This is determined through assessment, bibliotherapy, insight into one's condition, and experiencing growth through the integration of one's Self within their efforts to connect and bond with others.

Our bonds with our early caregivers form the basis for our future relationships. I help clients uncover their attachment style and understand how their early experiences impact their adult relationships today.

Working with attachment theory means I pay close attention to how a person shows up in relationships which includes strangers.

I am training in the Developmental Model of couple/relationship therapy. This model looks at each person's attachment as well as the relationships developmental stage, aiming to improve communication and relationship satisfaction. I utilize a variety of therapeutic tools for assessment and provide homework and feedback for clients looking to improve their relationship to self and others. I utilize an attachment framework when working with individual clients as well.

The journey to healing is so much about relationship, and the "theory of attachment" is a wonderful way to put into words how we relate to everything in our world. I use the language of attachment alongside the other modalities in order for couples, individuals, groups to understand how and why they relate they way they do. This awareness allows us to adjust how we relate, and in doing so, move towards healing and health.

Attachment Theory is an area of psychology that studies the nature of emotional attachment between humans. I work collaboratively with my clients to explore and understand their attachment style with their parents and offer insight to their attachment style to their romantic partners to better understand their relationship patterns and improve their overall relationship.

An attachment style is a specific pattern of behavior in relationship. Typically our attachments are based in survival techniques that are developed in infancy and early childhood. As we grow, some of these behaviors are carried with us and are reflected in and around our relationships with others. Building our awareness to our attachments can allow us to strengthen our relationships with others and with ourselves.

This allows a powerful lens through which we can understand the dynamics of human relationships. By recognizing our attachment styles and exploring their impact on our lives, we can embark on a journey of self-awareness and personal growth. Through nurturing secure attachments, healing attachment wounds, and cultivating healthy connections, we can foster fulfilling and prosperous relationships. This is impactful when forming successful relationships with others.

Whether it's with a family member, friend, or intimate partner, relationships are an integral part of life. How those relationships add or extract value from our lives also depends on how we connect with others. This connection, or attachment, is developed in early infancy between a child and their caregiver and impacts our ability to both receive and give love, safety, comfort as well as impacts our thoughts, feelings, and expectations. Understanding attachment expands awareness and growth.

Two approaches that use in my practice are mainly based on the attachment theory.

As humans we are biologically wired to attach to our parents when we are babies. How we experience this attunement of safety, love and connection stays with us through our childhood and into adulthood. We unconsciously carry our attachment style into relationships as adults. The main styles of attachment are anxious, avoidant, disorganized and secure. In healthy relationships both adults strive for secure attachment, but attachment injuries from childhood or past relationships can prevent se

For those who often “lose themselves” in relationships. We discuss ways to deconstruct controlling patterns that play out in enmeshed relationships and those who find themselves people-pleasing or avoiding "healthy conflict." Goal is empowerment and freedom. Implementing psycho-education and tools for people who find themselves resentful of others due to lacking their own boundaries. Helping to create new patterns in relationships, increase self-awareness and improves thought processes and und

Attachment Theory is about discovering that how a person was cared for & related to in their early years still effects them today especially in close relationships. When we were young we learned if the world was safe or not. To make us feel safe we isolated or became people pleasers. These patterns continue on into adulthood & can be very disruptive in all relationships. There are ways to feel emotionally safe so you can thrive.