Adult Attachment – Building Healthy Relationships

The Root of Attachment Issues

Everyone forms attachments to others, both children and adults. Attachment issues arise when individuals are apart for any period of time. Most people don’t like to be separated from those they love, but for those with attachment issues, being separated triggers various problems for them.

During childhood, everyone forms connections in the brain, so they can interact socially, emotionally, and mentally. When a child is raised in an abusive or neglectful environment, the links they make are maladaptive. Children living in an unhealthy home environment make connections that help them “survive,” and they learn to rely on these maladaptive survival skills long past the time when they’re needed. When these children become adults, the social, emotional, and mental skills they have developed can cause difficulties. Adults who suffer from attachment issues display behaviour and thought patterns that are destructive to relationships.

Interpersonal Therapy

Psychotherapy is also known as talk therapy. The therapist and client talk through problems to identify and heal troubling issues. Psychotherapy is generally successful in dealing with attachment issues because, in theory, healing is achieved through the client/therapist relationship. As therapy progresses, the client learns that relationships can be stable through the developing relationship with their therapist. The client begins to trust the therapist, and as the trust builds, the therapeutic relationship itself becomes beneficial.

Once the relationship established, the therapist and client are able to address their issues by talking to the client through the events or situations that trigger the symptoms. They work together to uncover and understand the basis of maladaptive behaviours. Confronting and identifying practices driven by attachment issues is a significant step to healing.

The Mulberry Practice supports those looking for individual counselling, couples counselling, and young people’s counselling including supporting those with attachment issues. For more information on the therapy and counselling techniques provided by us, please get in touch.