What the Word “Attachment” Means and the Attachment Theory Is All About

If you were to Google quotes on the word “attachment,” you would find results that might confuse you about it, if you’re not careful. What I mean by that is, that it would appear that there are more warnings about getting attached (especially to people) than encouragements. Take the quote by author Steve Maraboli: “The reason many people in our society are miserable, sick, and highly stressed is because of an unhealthy attachment to things they have no control over.”

Or this one by French philosopher Simone Weil: “Attachment is the great fabricator of illusions; reality can be attained only by someone who is detached.” Or this one by writer Norman O. Brown: “Love without attachment is light.” Hmph. Maybe it’s just me but it seems like one thing that all of these sayings have in common is, “Don’t get too attached.” (Bookmark that. I’ll circle back around to that point in just a bit.)

Okay so, just what does it mean to have an attachment to someone or something?

In general, it’s “a feeling that binds one to a person, thing, cause, ideal, or the like; devotion; regard.” When it comes to the attachment theory, it’s more like “an emotional bond between an infant or toddler and primary caregiver, a strong bond being vital for the child’s normal behavioral and social development” and then, as we get older, it becomes “an enduring emotional bond that develops between one adult and another in an intimate relationship.”

So, basically what the attachment theory is saying is, well, it’s part of the reason why one of my favorite quotes is “Adulthood is surviving childhood” — it’s the belief that how you attached to your parents explains how you will attach to others, especially romantically, once you are grown.

Now according to Bowlby, when it comes to the attachment theory specifically, there are “character traits” of attachment.

• Proximity maintenance: the longing to be close to our attachments
• Safe haven: seeking out our attachments for safety and comfort when a threat is present
• Secure base: the attachment being a form of stability as the child steps out to explore
• Separation distress: anxiety that transpires whenever the attachment isn't present

And based on what kind of attachment style a child has experienced, these traits can manifest in some interesting ways once they become an adult.

Keeping all of this in mind, let’s explore what the four attachment styles are. Honestly, each attachment style could be its own article; however, for the sake of your time and my space, I’m just going to briefly touch on each one.

ATTACHMENT STYLE #1: Secure Attachment Style

When a baby/young child’s physical and emotional needs were consistently (consistently is key) met by their parents (or parent or primary caregiver — I’m going to just say parents moving forward, though), that creates a sense of stability and confidence. Since their parents were so reliable and dependable, that gives the child the ability to explore, play, and learn outside of their parents which helps them to become more empathetic and emotionally mature. As a direct result, once they become adults, they typically have a strong sense of self-worth and healthy relationships and they are strong listeners and communicators.

Without question, having a secure attachment style is the ideal.

ATTACHMENT STYLE #2: Ambivalent/Anxious Attachment Style

When a baby/young child’s needs are inconsistently met by their parents, they quickly begin to feel or believe that they can’t fully trust the people who are taking care of them which can make them quite anxious. As a result, there is quite a bit of internal conflict that transpires because, while they are uncomfortable when their parents aren’t present, they aren’t exactly comforted by their return either (because again, full trust is lacking). And if you can’t really trust your own parents, you definitely are going to struggle with trusting others.

This oftentimes means that, once they become adults, they can put people through a lot of tests and challenges to get close to them, and then they will overwhelm those same people out of fear of being left alone. Once the relationships end, they don’t typically handle the transition very well either.

Basically, closeness makes them nervous and distance does too.

ATTACHMENT STYLE #3: Avoidant Attachment Style

Would you be surprised that a commitment-phobe has an avoidant attachment style? Pretty sure that it makes all of the sense in the world. Here’s how someone becomes that way — whenever a baby/young child doesn’t get the emotional support that they need (even if their physical ones are being met), the child comes to the conclusion that they shouldn’t rely on others in an emotional way (hmph — think about all of the people on social media who base relationships on money and material things; makes you wonder, right?).

This could lead to children who trust other people, even strangers, more than their own parents; in fact, sometimes these are the kids who prefer to avoid their parents altogether. Once they grow up, though, they can oftentimes be poor emotional/relational communicators, they tend to prefer to keep things surface and shallow, and/or they may know a lot of people, but they aren’t really intimate (especially emotionally) with any of them.

Since the foundation of intimacy was shaky, it’s hard for them to “build” with others.

ATTACHMENT STYLE #4: Disorganized Attachment Style

Chaotic. Confused. Unpredictable. These are the words that come to my mind when I think of what is known as disorganized attachment style. A baby/young child who deals with this usually comes from a home that consisted of quite a bit of trauma and/or fear. Because their environment was so emotionally erratic, they tend to be too. As adults, these individuals are the “come close, go away” folks. They are the ones who, right when you think they are about to be “all in,” they run. Hell, I’d venture to say that someone with a disorganized attachment style probably came up with the saying, “Hurt people, hurt people” — because, on some level, they tend to do to others what was done to them.

Something else to keep in mind about this particular attachment style is, that because they probably took care of their parents (one way or the other), they may see relationships — even ones that they want and need — as work instead of a benefit because they weren’t given the opportunity and freedom of being a child when they actually were one.

Okay, so if you didn’t already know all of this, now that you have this information, what attachment style would you consider yourself to be? My recommendation would be to not assume and actually take a quiz. You can do so here, here, or here, if you’d like. If you’re in a relationship (or you’d like to learn more about your friends and their attachment style), shoot them those links too.

The Benefits of Knowing Someone’s Personal Attachment Style

Aight, so with all of this foundation laid, let’s get to the main point and purpose of this article: how much should you factor in your partner’s (or potential partner’s) attachment style when it comes to your relationship with them? Honestly, like I said earlier, I think it’s just…a puzzle piece.

A big part of the reason why I say that is listen, if someone came up in some inconsistent ish, it’s me — and yet, every time I take an attachment test, it says that I have a secure attachment style. I think one reason is because the way I feel about each of my parents is quite different which can bring balance to what I missed from one and gained from the other. I also think that, as my mother has told me on many occasions, I am “violent about my growth and my peace” (it’s one of the best things that she has ever said to/about me too) and so a lot of self-work has been done to become a holistically healthy and balanced individual.

And you know what? Similar things can be said about someone else. If they do happen to have another type of attachment style, while that may explain some things about them, if they are willing to do the work to have a healthy relationship — what’s the problem? Case in point: I know a guy who was a commitment phobe for years. I also know about his childhood and it was traumatizing as hell. His dating experience with his now-wife was a bit rocky yet he did the self-work and, because she knew about his attachment style beforehand, she was patient while he did.

Yeah, that’s one of the things that I think is highly unfortunate about the state of our culture these days.

So many people are so selfish and caught up in immediate gratification that they don’t get that all of us need some mercy, grace, and understanding. All of us have a backstory that we would appreciate some gentleness with. All of us are works in progress when it comes to being better partners.

So, what are you saying, Shellie — that if my partner is uncomfortably clingy and I figure out that they have an anxious attachment style that I should just…deal with it? No, what I am saying is if your partner is uncomfortably clingy, you know about their childhood stuff and they are willing to do some healing, if there are so many other things about them that are awesome, you should consider supporting and encouraging them through the transformation process.

Because now you are fortunate enough to have information that explains what’s going on — and sometimes, just knowing what’s up can change…everything.

Attach or Not Attach. That Is the Question.

All of this brings me back to what I said I would address: Is having an attachment to someone a “bad” thing? Personally, I look at it in a similar way that I do to expectations. I don’t trust people who say to not get attached to anyone or thing in life and I also don’t trust people who say to never expect anything. To me, that doesn’t sound like sound advice; that sounds like bitterness and pain.

Now REALISTIC attachments and REALISTIC expectations? See, I’m all about that. In fact, one of my favorite Message Version Scriptures of the Bible says, “It’s best to stay in touch with both sides of an issue. A person who fears God deals responsibly with all of reality, not just a piece of it.” (Ecclesiastes 7:18) Being realistic is about approaching things from a place of practicality and accepting what is real instead of romanticizing matters. And if you are going to be devoted to something or someone, you should be REALISTIC about what you are getting yourself into.

In other words, it’s one thing to be attached to someone (in a healthy way) who is attached to you (in a healthy way) — sometimes attachment styles show us that we’re involved in something that’s quite different.

Sometimes, we are trying to have a relationship with someone who has a certain attachment style and they have no interest in reciprocity or moving forward. And while their style may explain why, if they are fine with how things are and you aren’t — that can be an unhealthy attachment because you are devoted to someone who isn’t really devoted to you. Again, it’s not (just) about what their childhood was like; it’s about how they are handling their childhood as adults.

If a man is constantly avoiding you, his attachment style may help to explain why yet what he is doing is still a conscious decision. To justify or excuse it? That is an unhealthy attachment.

A healthy attachment is when two people realize that some things were probably missing in their childhood which explains some things about who they are now, they are not expecting their partner to overcompensate for any of it (an article unto itself), they are giving each other space to grow and evolve and they are each doing the work to make themselves (first) and the relationship (second) better.

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There are all kinds of television shows, podcasts, social media posts, and articles about how if someone has a certain attachment style, you should flee — that is so extreme and to a certain extent, pretty unfair. We can’t control the parents that we had — we can only control the adults we are now.

Attachment styles are puzzle pieces…data…information. Treat it as a part of what makes a picture while not seeing it as the entire picture itself. Attach to that way of thinking and, one way or another, relationships will be beneficial for you. Because you are attaching in a healthy, practical, and realistic kind of way. The way attachments should be.

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