Identify your default setting

If you circled MAINLY ANXIOUS

Your attachment profile:

ANXIOUS TYPES ARE tuned into others’ emotions and hypervigilant for signs of disapproval. MRI studies on the brains of anxious types have shown that the areas related to loss are easily activated and those for calming down emotions are underactivated, which is why you can feel as if your emotions hijack you.^* There may also be a genetic connection – anxious types have a specific pattern of dopamine receptor DRD2 allele. How it influences attachment is still unclear, but we know genes influence areas of the brain linked with feelings of both bonding and reward.^**

Anxious types may have experienced inconsistent messages from caregivers growing up, so feel as if love and acceptance can be taken away at any moment. Good parents can create anxious children if they are dealing with severe stress, grief, trauma, depression or isolation which depletes their capacity to give consistent attention. Children of divorce can develop an anxious attachment style if they feel responsible for driving