attachment patterns

Why Do Break Ups Hurt Some People More than Others?

How Attachment Style Affects Break Ups  Break ups aren’t easy for anyone, but have you ever noticed that some people seem to cope with them better than others?  While some who’ve loved and lost are barely able to get out of bed, others appear to bounce back immediately. Of course, every relationship is unique, and when one… Read more »

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Can You Trust Your Own Perceptions?

If you’re familiar with the psychological term “transference,” you probably associate it with a client in therapy transferring certain feelings onto their analyst. Yet, the meaning of transference is a bit broader and refers to a redirection of emotions, often that originate in childhood, onto someone in the present. As one article on MentalHelp.net put it, “Transference is… Read more »

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How Your Attachment Style Affects Your Parenting

Like it or not, our childhood has a lot to do with how we parent. In fact, attachment research has shown that our attachment style with our own parents is the biggest predictor of the attachment style we’ll have with our child. Attachment style refers to the internal “working models” we develop of how relationships function…. Read more »

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Anxious Attachment: Understanding Insecure Anxious Attachment

Understanding Anxious Attachment Human beings are born with strong survival instincts. One of the strongest is based on an infant’s inability to survive on its own and its complete dependence on an adult for nurturance and protection. Babies have an innate drive to make sure that they get their basic needs met by a parent,… Read more »

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Change Your Attachment Style to Have a Better Life

What if we could identify the filter that shapes our perception of the world and change it so as to have a better life?  We are born into the social context of our families and quickly need to /develop strategies to get our needs met by our caretakers. Depending on our early emotional environment, we… Read more »

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How Your Attachment Style Impacts Your Relationship

Our style of attachment affects everything from our partner selection to how well our relationships progress and to, sadly, how they end. That is why recognizing our attachment pattern can help us understand our strengths and vulnerabilities in a relationship. An attachment pattern is established in early childhood attachments and continues to function as a… Read more »

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Disorganized Attachment: How Disorganized Attachments Form & How They Can Be Healed

What is disorganized attachment? When a child has an ideal attachment, the parent or primary caretaker provides the child with a secure base from which the child can venture out and explore independently but always return to a safe place. When a parent or caregiver is abusive, the child may experience the physical and emotional… Read more »

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Dr. Christine Courtois on Complex Trauma and Cognitive Distortion: VIDEO

Dr. Christine Courtois talks about complex trauma and the defense of minimization. The following transcript contains part of an exclusive interview with Dr. Lisa Firestone and Dr. Christine Courtois. CC       I mean, I think that’s one of the fascinating things about this whole idea of complex trauma as well is — in one of the… Read more »

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What is Your Attachment Style?

What is attachment and why is it important? Attachment refers the particular way in which you relate to other people. Your style of attachment was formed at the very beginning of your life, during your first two years.  Once established, it is a style that stays with you and plays out today in how you… Read more »

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