Welcome to the Very Well Mind podcast. We've interviewed over 100 authors, experts, entrepreneurs, athletes, musicians, and others to help you learn strategies to care for your mental health.

This episode is hosted by psychotherapist and bestselling author Amy Morin. Now let's get into the episode.

Okay. We used to talk about our attachment style in terms of our childhood.

If you've taken a psychology course, you've probably learned a bit about childhood attachment. Over the years, however, we learned a bit more

about those early attachments and how they affect the way that we attach to our partners later in

life. There are three basic attachment styles. Number one, secure. People who are securely

attached feel comfortable with intimacy, and they're usually warm and loving. Number two, anxious.

People with anxious attachment are often preoccupied with their partner's ability to love them back.

And number three, avoidant.

People with an avoidant attachment often focus on what they're losing in a relationship,

like their independence, and they try to

minimize closeness. Learning to recognize your attachment style, as well as your partner's attachment

style, could help you better understand yourself, and it might improve your relationship.

Here to talk about this today is Dr. Amir Levine. He's the assistant professor in the Department

of Psychiatry and the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at Columbia University.

He's also the co-author of a popular book called Attached, The New Science of Adult Attachment

and How It Can Help You Find and Keep Love. Some of the things he talks about today are how

attachment styles form, how they play out in our adult relationships, and what we can do if we

aren't feeling secure. Make sure to stick around until the end of the episode for the therapist

take. It's the part of the show where I'll break down Dr. Levine's strategies and share how you can

apply them to your own life.

So here's Dr. Amir Levine on how to identify your attachment style.

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