attachment trauma
Early relationship damage
Attachment trauma refers to psychological damage caused by disrupted or harmful bonds between a child and their primary caregivers.
It results from neglect, abuse, inconsistent care, or early separation, and typically affects a person's ability to form healthy relationships later in life.
The term appears frequently in therapeutic contexts: Her attachment trauma made intimacy feel threatening.
Adults with attachment trauma often struggle with trust, emotional regulation, and fear of abandonment.
- bondingForming close connections
- abandonmentAct of leaving permanently
- emotional neglectFailure to meet feeling-needs
- neglectFailure to provide care
- insecureLacking self-assurance
avoidant · anxious · clinging · wounds · childhood · inner child · caregiver · mother · rupture · disconnection · fearful · fight or flight · intimacy · betrayal · hypervigilance · dissociation · codependency · rejection
- attachmentsecure base, safe haven, separation anxiety, clinging, cling
- attachment issuesRAD, fear of abandonment
- traumaabuse, abandonment, acute stress, amnesia, avoidance
- harmharming, injury, hurting, abuse, injuring
attachment traumasecure attachment
Reliable caregiver-child emotional bond
secure base · attunement · safe haven · emotional availability · trust
attachment, trauma, attach, attached, attaching, attachments, detach, detached, detachment