ABSTRACT
Attachment is the complementary force to bonding in rescuing—caretaking and is the vehicle whereby the young and weakened have others supply their needs. Attachment is important and prolonged in humans, as they are the most dependent and vulnerable species. Adaptive attachment includes some of the most intense human pleasures. Being held and cared for against the chest with maximum body contact by a familiar attachment figure stills distress and provides a warm sense of security. Absence of a desperately needed attachment person is felt as aloneness and abandonment. Attachment trauma has been designated at times as the main human trauma, with helplessness as its hallmark. Hostility and impaired coping ability may be aspects of maladaptive attachment quoted to be associated with ulcers. Individual attachment is first to another person, though it can spread to family, group, community, and nation in ever-increasing circles.
