The Link Between Insecure Attachment & Chronic PTSD
About: Desert Sage Counseling
Whether you’re navigating anxiety, depression, or overcoming past traumas, at Desert Sage Counseling we’re here to provide a safe space for growth and healing. Our evidence based approaches blend therapy, mindfulness, and holistic practices to nurture your well-being. We can help you take the next step.
Janay Langford is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and is the owner of Desert Sage Counseling in St. George, Utah. She specializes in Trauma using an Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR) therapeutic approach.
Trauma is not always the result of a single, catastrophic event. Often, it’s woven through the fabric of early relationships — in neglect, emotional absence, inconsistent caregiving, or outright abuse. These subtle and persistent disruptions in early attachment can leave deep emotional scars known as attachment wounds also known as insecure attachment or anxious/avoidant attachment. When unhealed, they can fuel chronic PTSD, influencing adult relationships, emotional regulation, and a person’s sense of safety and worth.
One therapeutic approach gaining attention for its effectiveness in addressing both attachment trauma and complex PTSD is Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Originally developed to treat single-incident PTSD, EMDR is now recognized as a powerful tool for working through the more nuanced and long-lasting impacts of developmental trauma.
Understanding Attachment Wounds and Chronic PTSD
Attachment wounds occur when a child’s fundamental needs for safety, consistency, affection, or validation are unmet by caregivers. These experiences can lead to insecure attachment styles — anxious, avoidant, or disorganized — and result in deeply held negative beliefs, such as “I am not lovable,” “I am not safe,” or “I don’t matter.”
Over time, these internalized beliefs shape behavior and relationships. Adults with attachment wounds often struggle with:
Emotional dysregulation
Hypervigilance or emotional numbness
Fear of abandonment or intimacy
Chronic anxiety, depression, or dissociation
Fear of relying on or trusting others
When attachment trauma accumulates over time, especially in unsafe or invalidating environments, it can lead to chronic PTSD, also known as Complex PTSD (C-PTSD). This condition includes not just flashbacks and hyperarousal, but also persistent issues with identity, trust, and relational functioning.
EMDR and Attachment Wounds: A Deeper Healing
EMDR can be profoundly effective for attachment trauma because it does more than address isolated incidents — it gets to the core beliefs that drive a person’s emotional pain and relational patterns.
Here’s how EMDR helps heal attachment wounds and chronic PTSD:
1. Targets Core Negative Beliefs
EMDR sessions often focus on early memories that gave rise to persistent negative self-beliefs. For instance, a client might work on memories tied to feeling unloved or unsafe as a child. Through reprocessing, these beliefs are often replaced with healthier ones such as “I am worthy of love,” or “I can protect myself.”
2. Addresses Implicit, Nonverbal Memories
Attachment trauma is often stored nonverbally, especially when it occurs before the age of language development. EMDR is uniquely suited for this because it does not rely solely on narrative talk therapy. Instead, it accesses memory networks through sensations, emotions, and images.
3. Calms the Nervous System
People with chronic PTSD often live in a state of hyperarousal or shutdown. EMDR, especially when integrated with somatic (body-based) approaches, can help regulate the nervous system, reduce dissociation, and increase the client’s ability to stay present in their body.
4. Repairs Relational Trauma in a Safe Therapeutic Alliance
The EMDR process unfolds within a trusting relationship with the therapist, which in itself can provide a corrective emotional experience. This safe attachment can help clients begin to internalize feelings of safety and trust — experiences that may have been absent in childhood.
5. Integrates Positive Experiences
Later phases of EMDR involve installing positive resources — memories, experiences, or internal strengths — which can help build resilience and reinforce a new, healthier sense of self.
Final Thoughts
EMDR therapy offers a path toward deep healing — not just from individual traumatic events, but from the long-term relational wounds that shape who we believe we are and how we relate to others. By targeting the roots of chronic PTSD and insecure attachment, EMDR can help people reclaim a sense of safety, connection, and wholeness.
For those carrying the invisible weight of childhood wounds, healing is not only possible — it can be life-changing. Contact us today at Desert Sage Counseling, we can help!
