Massage Therapy Journal Fall 2025

Fall 2025 • 43

The term “attachment system” describes the set of responses that occur when a person feels fear in the face of a strange situation. This system is invoked anytime a child feels afraid in the face of a stressful situation. 55,56,57,58 Children, like adults, do not live in a perfect world where fears are dispelled and comfort is always provided. The less children are comforted when they are frightened, the more insecure their attachment systems. 59,60,61,62 The younger a child is when they lose comfort, the more damaging their attachment system becomes as they grow up. 63 When children experience neglect or inconsistent or frightening care as infants or small children, they learn the hard way that they may not depend on parents to keep them safe from harm. These children develop “insecure” attachment systems and display less capacity to regulate and manage stress or distress. 64,65,66 When individuals do not receive loving and positive caregiving as infants and children, they often carry their emotional vulnerabilities into adulthood. They sense that the world does not feel safe and people may not be trusted. 67,68,69,70 Attachment systems develop during infancy to two years of age when parental caregiving, soothing and touch are most intense. Attachment systems may be triggered throughout one’s life, but this early period of existence is where the attachment system forms. 71,72,73,74 As a person grows and accumulates other life experiences, the ability to manage stress or emotional burdens may change, but the attachment system that is formed in early childhood remains consistent. For the purposes of better understanding and more clarity, the consequences of attachment versus other trauma and life experiences are discussed separately. In reality, a person’s attachment system defines how that person reacts to negative experiences later in life. Every person exhibits some form of attachment system, whether wholly secure or a combination of each type of attachment system. 75,76,77 Ainsworth identified four types of attachment systems:

Secure attachment—As a result of loving and caring • If children receive all the love and support necessary to thrive in the world, then they develop secure attachment systems. They are able to explore whatever life experiences they encounter with curiosity, openness and enthusiasm. When secure children grow into adults, their ability to thrive in the world continues because their attachment system is encoded in implicit, preverbal emotional memory. Insecure attachment—As a result of neglect • Some children are left alone to fend for themselves, neglected and abandoned. These children learn to avoid asking for help. They raise themselves independent of any outside assistance. As adults, they often become loners, unable to believe that anyone cares about their needs or feelings. Insecure attachment—As a result of inconsistency • Some parents behave erratically and inconsistently. One minute they show love and care and the next minute they show disinterest and even annoyance at their children’s needs. From the children’s perspective, such inconsistency feels like an unpredictable removal of love and care. These children try hard to discover what triggers the parent’s care and appear inconsolable because no one specific action triggers their parent’s reassurance perfectly. Insecure attachment—As a result of fear • Some children live with parents who are frightening, willing to harm and not trustworthy. Other parents are frightened of their children and cannot respond to their needs for reassurance. In both cases, home life is chaotic, unpredictable and unsafe. These children feel lost, abandoned, angry, fearful, anxious and despairing, and are often in pain. When they grow up, they carry their painful childhood memories with them, either consciously or unconsciously. Insecure attachment as a result of fear or chaos can result in individuals looking for a way to

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