Understanding Attachment Styles: How They Shape Your Relationships

Attachment styles are patterns of emotional bonding that begin in childhood and continue to influence our relationships throughout life. Whether you find yourself avoiding closeness, fearing abandonment, or feeling secure in love, your attachment style may be the key to understanding your relationship behavior.

At SereinMind, Dr. Arati Bhatt, a leading counselling psychologist in Gurgaon, helps individuals explore their emotional patterns and transform the way they connect with others through evidence-based therapy.

What Are Attachment Styles?

Attachment theory, developed by psychologist John Bowlby, describes how early interactions with caregivers shape our approach to intimacy and connection. There are four main attachment styles:

1. Secure Attachment

Individuals with secure attachment feel comfortable with intimacy, trust others easily, and maintain healthy boundaries.

2. Anxious Attachment

These individuals often fear abandonment, seek constant reassurance, and may feel insecure in relationships.

3. Avoidant Attachment

Marked by emotional distance, people with avoidant attachment tend to downplay closeness and may suppress their needs.

4. Fearful-Avoidant (Disorganised) Attachment

This style combines both anxious and avoidant tendencies, often resulting from trauma or inconsistent caregiving.

How Attachment Affects Adult Relationships

Your attachment style can affect how you communicate, deal with conflict, trust others, and experience love. In romantic relationships, it may show up as:

• Clinginess or emotional withdrawal

• Difficulty trusting or expressing needs

• Fear of intimacy or being too dependent

• Choosing emotionally unavailable partners

Understanding your attachment style can help you break toxic patterns and build healthier emotional bonds.

Individual Therapy with Dr. Arati Bhatt can help you identify your attachment style and develop secure, balanced emotional habits.

Can Attachment Styles Change?

Yes. While attachment patterns are deeply rooted, they are not permanent. With self-awareness, intentional effort, and the right guidance, people can move toward a more secure attachment style. Therapy plays a key role in this transformation by creating a safe emotional space for healing and growth.

Not sure where to start? Try Online Counselling for confidential support from the comfort of your home.