Attachment Styles in Adults

​Healing early emotional bonds to transform your relationships and wellbeing

Attachment theory, pioneered by psychologist John Bowlby and later expanded by Mary Ainsworth and others, highlights how our earliest relationships with primary caregivers shape the way we connect with others throughout life. The security, or insecurity, of these early emotional bonds profoundly influences adult patterns of relating, self-worth, and emotional regulation.

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Many adults who seek therapy carry the echoes of childhood attachment wounds. These early experiences, once adaptive strategies to protect the vulnerable child and meet basic needs, can become unconscious patterns that contribute to anxiety, low self-esteem, dissociation, depression, and even addictive behaviours. Such attachment styles, whether anxious, avoidant, or disorganised, often underpin difficulties in forming trusting, healthy relationships and may leave individuals feeling disconnected or unseen in the world.

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Exploring Your Attachment Style in Therapy

Through compassionate exploration and guided reflection, therapy helps you:

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• Identify your unique attachment style and how it influences your current relationships

• Understand how early caregiving experiences shaped your emotional responses and coping mechanisms

• Heal trauma related to inconsistent or neglectful caregiving, including attachment wounds

• Develop secure relational patterns, building trust and emotional resilience

• Reduce feelings of anxiety, isolation, or dissociation rooted in attachment trauma

• Strengthen self-esteem by fostering a more compassionate internal dialogue

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Why Attachment Matters

Research shows that adult attachment styles can affect everything from intimate partnerships to workplace dynamics and even physical health outcomes. The good news is that attachment is not fixed; through therapy, it is possible to develop greater emotional security and build fulfilling, authentic connections.