There is a whole body of study and research in Western psychology showing how
close bonding and loving attunement— what is known as “secure attachment” — have
powerful impacts on every aspect of human development. Secure attachment has a
tremendous effect on many dimensions of our health, well-being, and capacity to
function effectively in the world: how our brains form, how well our endocrine and
immune systems function, how we handle emotions, how subject we are to depression,
how our nervous system functions and handles stress, and how we relate to others.