Attachment Basics
This attachment style is characterized by trust, comfort with intimacy, and healthy independence.
What is secure attachment?
Prefers emotional distance and values independence over close relationships.
What is insecure (avoidant) attachment.
This early relationship, often with a caregiver, sets the foundation for future attachment styles.
What is the parent-child bond?
This type of therapy is particularly useful for working through attachment wounds.
What is attachment-based therapy?
This famous Disney princess with an anxious attachment style gave up her voice to be loved.
Who is Ariel (The Little Mermaid)?
Name the psychologist who, along with Mary Ainsworth, developed attachment theory.
Who is John Bowlby?
Anxious about relationships, needs reassurance, and fears abandonment.
What is insecure (anxious) attachment?
People with avoidant attachment may use this common defense mechanism, which involves downplaying their own needs and emotions to maintain distance.
What is emotional avoidance or suppression?
The process of this involves learning how to rewire old attachment patterns by developing new, healthy relational experiences.
What is earned secure attachment or relational repair?
This Star Wars villain has severe attachment trauma, swinging between avoidant and anxious behaviors.
Who is Anakin Skywalker / Darth Vader?
According to attachment theory, a child's attachment style is primarily shaped by this, which refers to how a caregiver responds to the child’s needs.
What is caregiver responsiveness?
Displays unpredictable behavior, both craving and fearing intimacy.
What is (insecure) disorganized attachment?
Securely attached people have this key trait to manage distress that allows them to navigate relationships with confidence.
What is emotional regulation?
To develop secure attachment, practicing this skill can help regulate emotions and build self-awareness.
What is mindfulness?
This superhero avoids intimacy and relationships, likely due to unresolved attachment trauma from childhood loss.
Who is Batman (Bruce Wayne)?
This attachment style often leads to fear of intimacy and emotional unavailability.
What is avoidant attachment?
Comfortable with closeness but also independent, communicating openly.
What is secure attachment?
Couples with differing attachment styles can improve their relationship by learning to recognize and work through this type of cycle, where one person pursues and the other withdraws.
What is the anxious-avoidant trap (or push-pull dynamic)?
A securely attached person is able to communicate _______ and _______.
What is wants and needs?
This character from Stranger Things struggles with avoidant attachment, rejecting help but longing for connection due to childhood trauma.
Who is Eleven?
The nervous system’s reaction to perceived abandonment is rooted in this ancient survival mechanism.
What is the fight-or-flight response?
Tends to sabotage relationships because of deep fear of rejection.
What is insecure (disorganized) attachment?
Attachment styles influence this "internal working model", which shapes how we view ourselves and others in relationships.
What is our self-worth and expectations of others?
One of the most effective ways to develop secure attachment in adulthood is to practice this, which means learning to comfort and regulate your own emotions in healthy ways.
What is self-soothing?
This Marvel anti-hero and brother of Thor struggles with disorganized attachment, switching between extreme closeness and pushing people away due to childhood trauma.
Who is Loki?