What is an Attachment Style?

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Attachment Style, in a mental health capacity, refers to how we interact and behave in our relationships with other people.  In childhood, attachment is based on how a child interacts with his parents (or primary care giver).  In adulthood, attachment is used to describe our interactions in romantic relationships.  The type of attachment style that develops will depend on how our primary caregiver responds to our needs as young children.  It will act as a kind of 'frame' and affect all our significant relationships in future life.

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Attachment theory and research began to emerge in the 1960's and 1970's thanks to the work of Bowlby and Ainsworth. Today, psychologists typically recognize two main attachment categories.

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Secure Attachment 

(or healthy attachment)

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If a 'securely attached' child gets upset for any reason, he will seek out his primary care giver who will soothe him, making him feel better.  A 'securely attached' child learns to trust his significant adult and thus extends that trust to other people in his life.  He is more likely to grow into a confident, outgoing person who, in times of need, is able to reach out to others and ask for help.

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Insecure Attachment 

(including Ambivalent, Avoidant and Disorganised attachment styles)

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An 'insecurely attached' child is one that grows up in an environment where Mum/Dad (or whomever his primary care giver may be) will sometimes respond to his needs while at other times they won't, or perhaps they may even respond in an angry, frightening way.  As a result, that same child will learn that adults cannot be trusted to soothe and support him when he needs them; he may even grow to fear adults at times.  He will learn that adults are not dependable for help.  He is more likely to grow into an anxious person who, in times of need, is unlikely to reach out to others, finding it hard to form lasting friendships and relationships, developing poor social skills and is more likely to suffer health issues.

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Each of these attachment styles will translate into the child's behavioural patterns when relating to other significant people in his/her future life.

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From a therapeutic point of view, an awareness of attachment styles can help shed light on why a person behaves in a particular way.  From there, work can be carried out to support a child (or adult), helping them develop a more secure attachment style with significant others. 

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It should be noted that we all have elements of secure and insecure attachment styles in our make-up.  The above generalisations reflect two opposing ends of a sliding scale.  

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