Help! I feel like I am too attached, what is my attachment style?

How attached are you and where do you land on the spectrum of attachment styles?

As a therapist, I spend a lot of time with people who are usually navigating some sort of interpersonal problem. What do I mean when I say interpersonal?

Interpersonal is just a fancy therapeutic word for "relationships or communication between 2 people". Interpersonal issues revolves around creating and maintaining health relationships. One of my favorite things to talk about in session are my client's specific attachment style's and how it affects their ability to connect with others in a meaningful and healthy way.

Attachment theory states that children need at least 1 primary caregiver to form "normal" social and emotional development.

I put normal in quotes because normal is truly defined by you as an individual and not what google says.

What we know is that attachment styles greatly affect our romantic relationships throughout our lives and do not be fooled, we all have one, even me! Attachment styles are broken into 2 categories; Secure and Insecure. Below you can see a chart indicating the different characteristics of each style.

Secure Attachment	Anxious Attachment	Avoidant Attachment	Anxious/Avoidant Attachment
Confident	Fear of abandonment	Emotionally detached	Prone to high conflict relationships
Vulnerable	Seeks validation	Uncomfortable with emotions	Fears rejection
Attuned to emotions	Sensitive to criticism	Has commitment issues	Hesitance with opening up to others
Clear and healthy boundaries	Afraid of being alone	Hard time trusting	Mixture of Anxious attachment and Avoidant
Strong self worth	Can struggle with jealousy	Overly rigid	Favors distance emotionally

If you are interested in learning more about your attachment style, I highly recommend the book: The Attachment Theory Workbook by Annie Chen, LMFT.