Frequently asked questions
What are the four attachment styles?
Secure, anxious, avoidant, and fearful-avoidant. Broadly: secure means comfortable with closeness and conflict, anxious means craving reassurance and noticing distance quickly, avoidant means preferring independence over depending on someone, and fearful-avoidant means wanting closeness and bracing against it at the same time.
Is this a clinical assessment?
No. It's informally based on attachment theory, popularized by psychologists like John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth and later by the book Attached — not a diagnostic tool or a validated clinical instrument.
Can your attachment style change?
Yes. It's shaped by experience, not fixed at birth, and tends to shift with self-awareness and with a partner who's consistent and patient. Most people also lean differently depending on who they're with.