Our earliest relationships with parents and/or caregivers have a huge impact on the relationships we have later in life. We learn about ourselves, others and the world through these relationships. We note the behaviours that bring us praise and affection, and those that don’t. We learn how reliably we can depend on others to meet our needs. And the things we learn go on to impact how we interact with others and what we expect from future relationships. This idea, known as attachment theory, was developed by John Bowlby in the 1950s and Mary Ainsworth in the 1970s.
Today, there are four widely accepted attachment styles. There’s secure attachment and three types of insecure attachment – anxious avoidant, anxious ambivalent and
