Disorganized/disoriented attachment, also referred to as fearful-avoidant attachment, stems from intense fear, often as a result of childhood trauma, neglect, or abuse. Adults with this style of insecure attachment tend to feel they don't deserve love or closeness in a relationship.
If a child perceives that his or her needs are not met, the child is not able to build a secure and stable bond with the caregivers. This leads to the development of an insecure attachment style and ultimately a distorted perception of how relationships work.
Possible Causes of Insecure Attachment
On the upbringing side, it's believed that attachment styles may stem from early childhood relationships 2 with caregivers. If a caregiver were inconsistent, emotionally unavailable, or even dangerous, the child would likely develop an insecure attachment style.
Referred to as anxious ambivalent attachment in children, anxious attachment develops in early childhood. Most often, anxious attachment is due to misattuned and inconsistent parenting. Low self-esteem, strong fear of rejection or abandonment, and clinginess in relationships are common signs of this attachment style.
But, once they get close, they become distant. Then they may repeat this cycle and not know why they are doing it. The anxious-avoidant attachment style is often due to trauma that includes physical abuse, chaotic or scary environments, and/or inconsistent care.
There is no one cause of insecurity; many factors can lead to the condition. Insecurity may stem from a traumatic event, crisis such as divorce or bankruptcy, or a loss. It can also result from one's environment, as unpredictability or upset in daily life can cause anxiety and insecurity about ordinary, routine events.
Healthy attachment occurs when the caregiver provides comfort, affection, and basic needs on a regular basis and with consistency. Poor attachment, inappropriate responses to a baby's distress, lack of affection, abusive behaviors, and the absence of the caregiver can all cause a traumatic experience for the child.
Understanding Attachment Issues
A weak attachment bond can result in both social and emotional developmental disruptions. Attachment issues typically result from an early separation from parents, lengthy hospitalization, incidents of trauma, instances of neglect, or an otherwise troubled childhood.
Definitions. Insecure attachment : An individual relationship can be insecure when it contains elements of mistrust together with anxious or avoidant elements and lacks a secure base. It is considered a dysfunctional relationship.
Conversely, repeated interactions with unresponsive or inconsistent figures result in the risk of developing insecure attachment styles, characterized by negative internal working models of the self and/or others and the use of less optimal affect regulation strategies (Mikulincer and Shaver, 2007).
Adverse childhood experiences like divorce, domestic violence, substance abuse, and parents with mental health issues all can leave their mark on the child's forming brain and nervous system . The long-term result manifests as a struggle with symptoms of attachment trauma which last well into adulthood.
Attachment issues can arise for a number of reasons, but they are typically rooted in childhood experiences. Inconsistent or neglectful caregivers, for example, may play a part in attachment disorders in childhood as well as attachment issues in adulthood.
A partner acting in one of the following ways may trigger an unhealthy emotional response for someone with an anxious attachment style: Inconsistent behavior (acting attentive and then withdrawn) Seeming distant or distracted. Forgetting important events, such as a birthday or anniversary.
Childhood emotional neglect is often associated with insecure attachment styles.
Yet, attachment disorders and ADHD are strongly linked, meaning that an insecure attachment style has the potential to worsen ADHD symptoms – even in adulthood.
Chronic stress associated with lack of safe and secure attachment can impair the formation of brain circuits and alter levels of stress hormones (cortisol, dopamine, serotonin, epinephrine, norepinephrine), resulting in emotional and biological dysregulation, anxiety, and depression.
A major cause for a person to gradually become insecure is his/her share of bad experiences. They could be around broken trust, cheating, disturbed childhood, traumatising episodes in school, feeling of not being loved enough, ignorance, etc. A sort of a fear sets in no matter how strong you try to project yourself.
Avoidance and emotional distance become a way of dealing with the world, and instead of problem-solving, they are more likely to sulk or withdraw. Babies with an insecure-ambivalent/resistant attachment are clingy with their mother and don't explore or play in her presence.
Factors affecting attachment
abuse, maltreatment and trauma experienced by the parent or child. parental mental health difficulties. parental substance misuse. the child having multiple care placements.
With attachment trauma, the caregiver is either not present, or is present but interacts in a way that leads the child to develop insecure attachment styles and different types of anxiety, such as separation anxiety, panic, and fear. The child feels alone and learns that others cannot be trusted.