By Marlee Cornue, M.S., Associate Professional Clinical Counselor, APCC# 9000, Employed by SDICF and Supervised by Mary Cipriani, LMFT #32742 (mcornue@sdicouples.com)

In psychology, the word “attachment” is used a lot. Attachment Theory originated in 1958 when John Bowlby began researching infants’ attachment to their parents, and the stages of the infant/ parent attachment. Sue Johnson (founder of Emotionally Focused Therapy) expanded attachment theory to include how we as individuals attach to those around us from the cradle to the grave.

So why may it be important to understand and explore your early attachment? The research tells us that by knowing how secure you felt as a child, you will be able to better understand how secure you feel in your adult relationships. Simply put, if you find yourself in similar patterns of attachment in adult relationships, and you want to make a change, exploring your early attachment may be a way to grow and heal.

Therapists will work to help you fill in the gaps and understand how early experiences may have shaped you. This is important because attachment wounds can be healed through healthy adult relationships, they can also be reinforced if you end up in a similar cycle over and over. The more you understand about yourself the more power you have to make changes.