Why we need to treat
attachment disorders
Healing unresolved childhood trauma enables
the formation of healthy, loving relationships.
Our Brand Story
How and why did we start The Attachment Project?
Our founder, Jock Gordon, sought answers for why he struggled with relationships and that’s what sparked his initial interest in Attachment Theory. After reading a book about it, Jock searched for local therapists that specialized in healing attachment disturbances. However, Jock quickly realized that there was a lack of therapists trained in this area.
Helping you break free from childhood conditioning
Everyone deserves to have relationships that work.
The Attachment Project came out of the need to educate people about one of the most essential foundations of psychology, attachment theory. In populations of trauma such as war-torn Middle Eastern countries or holocaust survivors, these scars get passed onto the next generations like the family jewels. People deserve to have relationships that work and it’s our mission to end the suffering caused from subconscious childhood conditioning.
Making the treatment of attachment disorders accessible to everyone
We bring together several of the world’s leading experts in the fields of attachment and trauma. Our faculty offers a suite of knowledge that we’ve packaged into affordable online courses. Combined, our faculty have trained over 10,000 students.
Putting an end to suffering that is passed onto the next generation
We are educating this generation on how to build healthy relationships so disturbances don’t get passed onto the next generation. We are not a complete replacement for one-on-one therapy and that is why we provide clinical training for mental health professionals. Offering you the gold standard in online courses for attachment therapy is our priority.
The Life Cycle of an Attachment Disorder
Attachment disturbances are fixed patterns of behavior that a child develops by the age of two. Once the behaviors are locked-in, three out of four people never change that pattern later in childhood, adolescence, and ultimately in adulthood.
- Securely attached kids might become upset when their caregivers leave.
- They respond positively to contact and seek comfort when frightened.
- Secure adults show healthy and balanced behaviour in relationships.
- They seek emotional support from their partners and provide such in return.
- These adults are comfortable being on their own.
- Secure parents are capable of regulating their emotions.
- They create a compassionate environment for their child.
- They view their child as a separate person, but they also empathize with his or her experiences.
- Avoidant kids might disregard affection from their caregivers.
- They tend to show aggression when among other children.
- The development of an avoidant attachment style early in life often causes antisocial behavior in adulthood.
- In extreme cases, avoidant / dismissive adults can become violent.
- Avoidant parents tend to disregard their child’s attachment needs.
- Such parents can be strict and controlling towards their children.
- They do not tolerate any strong display of emotion and expect their children to be independent and ‘tough’.
- Anxious / preoccupied children tend to be very sensitive and responsive to others’ needs, often at their own expense.
- They experience distress when their parents leave and are difficult to soothe when the parents return.
- Anxious-preoccupied attachment can cause anxiety disorders and attention deficit disorders in adulthood.
- Adults tend to be self-critical and seek validation from others.
- Anxious parents tend to over-involve their child into their own feelings and emotional needs.
- They often struggle with multitasking around their child.
- Disorganized kids tend to be fearful and express ambivalent behavior towards their parents: approaching followed by distancing; anger or aggression without an obvious reason; or ‘freezing’ in the parents’ presence.
- Such children are faced with a dilemma: their caregivers – the only source of safety – are also a source of fear.
- Disorganized attachment is associated with mental health disorders, such as substance abuse, depression, Antisocial Personality Disorder, or Borderline Personality Disorder.
- Adults often avoid emotional intimacy and are not able to trust others, due to fear of getting hurt.
- Disorganized parents might struggle with building emotionally intimate relationships with their child.
- They often behave in an ambivalent, inconsistent, and unpredictable way, which might confuse or frighten the child.
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