What Is Attachment Trauma?

Understanding the long-lasting effects of early childhood experiences can be challenging. Attachment trauma, stemming from neglect or abuse in infancy, shapes how we form relationships as adults. We're here to help you navigate this topic with clarity and confidence, offering insights into its causes, effects, and paths to healing.

What is attachment trauma?

Attachment trauma is a type of harm that occurs during the first three years of life, which is the attachment phase. It affects how a person learns to form social relationships, especially with their caregivers, which impacts their attachment style in adulthood.

Want to learn more about the different attachment styles and how you can heal from attachment trauma? Continue reading to discover more about this important topic.

The Attachment Phase

The effects of trauma can impact any part of a person's life from infancy to adulthood. Some might not realize that their experiences even as young as two can impact their ability to form healthy attachments to others later on in life. If an individual has experienced neglect, abandonment, or abuse as an infant or a toddler, they can still experience long-lasting effects.

Attachment trauma refers to harm that happened to a child or infant during the attachment phase. This period in development marks a point where young children learn how to develop social relationships with others, especially their caregivers. If a child has not been properly exposed to healthy attachment or care, this can affect their attachment style later in life.

How someone develops during this phase can impact how they deal with trust, bonding, and intimacy. This can determine how well they handle romantic relationships or friendships later on in life. If a person's early relationships with their caregivers were scary or nonexistent, this can cause a person to develop an insecure attachment style.

Hurt From the Very Beginning

While most people are not able to remember life before age three, it does not mean their experiences during this time did not affect their development. They might not be able to recall specific events in early childhood, but the experiences still affected how they form attachments with others.

What a child learns during initial development still affects their behaviors even if they do not remember them. For example, a child can still remember how to walk even if they do not remember learning how to walk. This can also be true with how a child learned how to form connections with others. A person might not have memories of early infancy, but the experiences still affect them psychologically.

Attachment trauma is not necessarily due to deliberate neglect or abuse.

Sometimes infants that were separated from their mothers in early childhood due to medical reasons can develop attachment trauma. Regardless of the cause, the effect still needs to be addressed in order for a person's “inner infant” to heal.

How It’s Different From Other Traumas

This specific type of trauma is defined by the part of the person’s life in which it occurred. Since the attachment phase occurs during the first three years of a person's life, it is only attachment trauma if it occurred during this specific developmental phase.

It is different than childhood trauma that occurred later in childhood. This is similar to relational trauma in that they both involve experiences like abuse or neglect by a loved one. Unlike attachment trauma, relational trauma can happen at any life stage.

The Different Attachment Styles

Depending on an individual's early childhood experiences, they may have developed unhealthy ways of forming attachments. Not many know about attachment theory and how early development affected how they maintain relationships with others. By knowing their attachment style, an individual can begin understanding what might be holding them back and how they can properly communicate their needs and differences.

Others with different attachment styles might not understand particular patterns and an individual may behave the way they do. They might come to other conclusions that do not accurately depict what is going on.

The different attachment styles include:

• Secure Attachment: This is the healthiest attachment style. These people had stable relationships with their parents or caregivers. They have good self-esteem and long-lasting stable relationships.

  
  

• Ambivalent Attachment: A person with this attachment style did not feel good when parents left, but was not comforted when parents were around. As adults, they might not handle the end of relationships well and have difficulty getting closer to others.

  
  

• Disorganized Attachment: As children, they showed a mixture of avoidance or resistance to the attachment. As adults, they might take on the role of a caregiver, as they did when they were children.

  
  

• Avoidant Attachment: This includes fearful-avoidant and dismissive-avoidant. In their childhood, they might not have sought out connection, and as adults, they struggle with intimacy and struggle with sharing feelings with others.

How to Heal Attachment Trauma

The best way to heal attachment trauma is through therapy. There are limitations to healing attachment therapy because there is a lack of evidence in the form of memories. What a therapist can do is look at an individual's current patterns of attachment and deduce from there what might have happened in early childhood to cause them to behave the way they do.

A therapist might ask a person questions about their self-image, the image they have of others, and why they feel the way they do about interpersonal relationships. These questions can help them uncover what might have been lost in this development phase.

Frequently Asked Questions

• What is attachment trauma?

Attachment trauma refers to harm that happened to a child or infant during the attachment phase, which is the period when young children learn how to develop social relationships with others.

• How is attachment trauma different from other types of trauma?

Attachment trauma is defined by the specific developmental phase in which it occurred, which is the first three years of a person's life. It is different from other types of trauma that can happen at any life stage.

• Can attachment trauma be caused by something other than abuse or neglect?

Yes, attachment trauma is not necessarily due to deliberate neglect or abuse. Sometimes infants who were separated from their mothers in early childhood due to medical reasons can develop attachment trauma.

• What are the four main attachment styles?

The four main attachment styles are secure, ambivalent, disorganized, and avoidant.

• How can someone heal from attachment trauma?

The best way to heal from attachment trauma is through therapy. A therapist can help an individual uncover what might have been lost in this developmental phase by looking at their current attachment patterns.

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If you or a loved one are struggling with the long-lasting effects of attachment trauma, know that you are not alone. At Chateau Health and Wellness Treatment Center, we understand the complexities of these experiences and are committed to helping you heal. Our dedicated team provides a safe and supportive environment to address your unique needs, guiding you on the path toward forming secure and healthy relationships. We are here to support you every step of the way. Contact us today at (435) 222-5225 to start your healing journey with us.

About The Author

Austin Pederson, Executive Director

Austin Pederson, Executive Director of Chateau Health and Wellness

Brings over eight years of experience revolutionizing mental health and substance abuse treatment through compassionate care and innovative business strategies. Inspired by his own recovery journey, Austin has developed impactful programs tailored to individuals facing trauma and stress while fostering comprehensive support systems that prioritize holistic wellness. His empathetic leadership extends to educating and assisting families, ensuring lasting recovery for clients and their loved ones.

Danny Warner, CEO

Danny Warner, CEO of Chateau Health and Wellness

Brings a wealth of experience in business operations, strategic alliances, and turnaround management, with prior leadership roles at Mediconnect Global, Klever Marketing, and WO Investing, Inc. A graduate of Brigham Young University in Economics and History, Danny has a proven track record of delivering results across diverse industries. His most transformative role, however, was as a trail walker and counselor for troubled teens at the Anasazi Foundation, where he directly impacted young lives, a personal commitment to transformation that now drives his leadership at Chateau.

Ben Pearson, LCSW, Clinical Director

Ben Pearson, LCSW - Clinical Director

With 19 years of experience, Ben Pearson specializes in adolescent and family therapy, de-escalation, and high-risk interventions. As a former Clinical Director of an intensive outpatient program, he played a key role in clinical interventions and group therapy. With 15+ years in wilderness treatment and over a decade as a clinician, Ben has helped countless individuals and families navigate mental health and recovery challenges.