What is attachment? Definition and types of attachment

We review this concept, which is so important for understanding attachment since childhood.

We often wonder to what extent the experiences we had in childhood, especially those we were able to share with our parents or other relevant figures, may have conditioned our way of being and relating to each other in adult life.

The human being comes into the world submerged in the most absolute vulnerability, as it takes several months to conquer a minimum of autonomy. That is why we depend on others to survive, forging with our close environment a necessary bond of attachment.

These attachment figures will not only have to guarantee the necessary resources to survive, but also the essential ones to live, since they will stand as the first source of love and understanding on which the child will place its expectations and longings.

It is for this reason that attachment contributes decisively to building the basic foundations of the private sense of security, in a critical age period for emotional and social maturation.This is a critical age period for emotional and social maturation. Knowing it, therefore, is important to understand who we are and why.

• Recommended article: "The Attachment Theory and the bond between parents and children".

Attachment: what is it?

Attachment is a concept widely studied in scientific literature, especially since John Bowlby's theories on the construction of our first relationships during childhood.

As a term it refers to the particular way in which people tend to interact with those with whom they establish a relevant bond, including the feelings of intimacy and commitment on which the subtle bonds of a human relationship are based.

Attachment would be the pentagram on which the social melody would be developed.and would be rooted in the dawn of the first relationships. In the brief period that comprises the infancy of any human being, the feeling of availability of parents (or other people who could be comparable in affective terms) in the face of possible harm or threat, would positively shape the vision of a changing environment in its very nature, to make it predictable and comfortable to be explored without fear inhibiting curiosity.

Attachment theories maintain that the particular characteristics of the nervous system in this evolutionary period would propitiate neuroplastic changes on which the adult brain would be built later, even though it is impossible to chisel memories that can be deliberately evoked (since the hippocampus matures after almost five years of life). Fear in this developmental period would turn vulnerability into helplessness, henceforth extending to all corners of the subjective experience in the years to come.

In order to evaluate the way in which children interact with their attachment figures, which is the measure from which information can be extracted to determine the integrity of these bonds and their emotional consequences, psychology has the "strange situation" procedure. Through this technique, the child is exposed to a structured sequence of encounters and misencounters with his or her primary caregiver and an unknown subject, evaluating his or her reactions to the approach and distancing of both.

Through the application of this strategy, four different attachment styles have been identified, which describe particular modes of feeling and behavior that emerge during the interaction. All of them play an essential role in understanding how we tend to establish bonds, not only in childhood, but also throughout the rest of the life cycle. We will now outline a brief description of each of them and their possible personal or social implications. and their possible personal or social implications.

Secure attachment

Children with secure attachment perceive their parents (or analogues) as reliable figures, to whom they can turn to in times of need.They can turn to them in the event that their inquiries about the environment accidentally involve a potentially dangerous situation. Children with this particular style tend to seek out their caregivers when they experience a difficult emotion, thus achieving relief from it. When parents disappear they feel uncomfortable only at first, regaining contact naturally when they return.

Adults with this attachment style experience a sense of general satisfaction in their relationships with others, being able to establish a relational framework that facilitates the healthy development of all involved. Honesty and trust stand as the fabric with which the seams of the friendship or couple relationship are embroidered, being able to establish a deep emotional bond with those they consider worthy of it. It is the most common form of attachment, and acts as a protective factor against psychopathology.

2. Preoccupied or anxious attachment

Children who present this style of attachment with their parents do not have the security of having the help they may need in case of need.. This uncertainty causes the interest in the environment to be conditioned by fear, so that exploration is limited by a latent but constant insecurity. This feeling is exacerbated in those cases in which parents resort to the threat of abandonment as a mechanism to control disruptive behaviors.

Adults with this attachment style tend to avoid their emotions as they consider that they could be overwhelmed by their intensity, which hinders the acquisition of essential resources for the regulation of internal experiences. Daily life is often lived from an ambivalence between approach and rejection, since both generate such a degree of discomfort that the person wanders in the gray spaces that border between one and the other. The fear of abandonment and the feeling of inadequacy may be recurrent.

3. Fearful or avoidant attachment

The child with this attachment pattern perceives that any attempt to seek the comfort that his or her caregiver figure can provide will end in a situation of open mockery or contempt, which will also be followed by the total absence of protection and security together with a harmful feeling of learned helplessness. This circumstance contributes to the child trying to adopt a position of self-sufficiency, in an attempt to build scenarios in which to feel safe without the contribution of others.

In adulthood, this attachment style is characterized by a deliberate search for solitude and discomfort in personal relationships.. Independence becomes of paramount importance, with a cervical fear arising from the expectation of commitment to others in the friendship or partnership spheres. The search for solitary jobs and disinterest in forging new relationships may also be common.

4. Disorganized attachment

Children who develop this particular style have experienced multiple situations with their explicitly threatening attachment figures, as these adopt a negligent or even abusive attitude (in the broad sense of the term).The infant is not able to assume a physical or emotional emancipation, he/she would necessarily remain close to the attachment figure. Because the infant cannot assume a physical or emotional emancipation, he/she would necessarily remain close to the pernicious influence of his/her caregivers, being anxious both in their presence and in their absence (chaotic and disorganized).

This attachment style generates deep traces in the personality and self-image, and is therefore the one that is most closely related to adult and child psychopathology. The following is a brief review of the available evidence on the mental health consequences attributable to insecure attachment styles (preoccupied, fearful and disorganized).

Attachment and mental health problems in adulthood

There are several studies that seek to explore the possible relationship between attachment in childhood and the development of psychological disorders during adulthood. However, the multiplicity of influences that converge to shape an individual makes it difficult to precisely isolate the role of these early interactions on health, despite the availability of numerous data suggesting such a connection.

There is scientific evidence that insecure attachments are related to a higher prevalence of mood and anxiety disorders, as well as to the clinical expression of obsessive-compulsive symptomatology. The presence of jealousy within romantic relationships is also more frequent among those with an insecure attachment pattern, and is often rooted in an intimate sense of insecurity and fear of abandonment.

Other authors consider that anxious attachment could be the germ of a later personality structure disorder, both cluster B (histrionic or borderline) and cluster C (dependent), while avoidant attachment would be related to the homonymous personality disorder (avoidant). In any case, difficulties in regulating emotional experience appear as the common factor underlying this extensive psychopathology.

The impact of attachment style on mental health is a hot topic in the field of scientific psychology, since it could be an explanatory element of tremendous value for understanding the distal risk factors of many mental disorders that limit the quality of life of the population. This is an area in continuous expansion, of which we have barely begun to unravel its surface.

It is also important to consider that many studies point in the direction that attachment does not have to be erected as a rigid and immutable reality, but can undergo transformations during the development of life as a consequence of personal work and the establishment of relationships that provide spaces for emotional repair.

A child's mind harbors the potential to build a happy life.. Despite the vulnerability that accompanies it at birth, the early years are elemental in defining who we will be and what paths we will travel in the fast-paced journey of existence. The first social relationships are, in this sense, the key to channel development towards biological, social and emotional fulfillment.