Anxious attachment is an attachment style marked by insecurity in relationships.
It is also called anxious preoccupied attachment.
Attachment styles develop in childhood and continue into adulthood.
Verywell / Ellen Lindner
Anxious attachment is characterized by an unhealthy preoccupation with relationships that causesanxiety.
People with this attachment style may have fears of rejection and abandonment and low self-esteem.
They are often perceived as “clingy” or “needy” in their relationships.
Research has shown that anxious attachment can affect trust in a relationship.
Can anxious attachment be healed?
Does My Partner Have Anxious Preoccupied Attachment?
Only a trained therapist can do this.
In the end, you cannot know for sure what someone else is thinking or feeling.
What Causes Anxious Attachment Style?
For example, a parent or caregiver may respond immediately to a child sometimes but not at other times.
Children in temporary care (such as those living in foster care) are also exposed to inconsistent caregiving.
Children raised without consistency can view attention as valuable but unreliable.
They may have difficulty knowing what to expect from their caregivers and other people.
Summary
Anxious attachment develops in childhood and continues into adulthood.
They often worry that their partner will leave or stop loving them.
People with anxious attachment may also become manipulative when they feel that a relationship is threatened.
Black AE.Treating insecure attachment in group therapy: Attachment theory meets modern psychoanalytic technique.Int J Group Psychother.
2019;69(3):259-286. doi:10.1080/00207284.2019.1588073
