Attachment, as we’ve already learned, is the drive to pursue and preserve closeness and contact with others; an attachment relationship exists when that state has been achieved. It’s an instinctual drive programmed into the mammalian brain, owing to the absolute helplessness and dependency of infant mammals—particularly infant humans. Without attachment he cannot survive; without safe, secure and nonstressed attachment, his brain cannot develop optimally. Although that dependency wanes as we mature, attachment relationships remain important throughout our lifetime.
