Conversations That Matter: Love avoidance

Credit to Author: Massey Padgham| Date: Fri, 14 Feb 2020 20:44:54 +0000

“She loves me, she loves me not, he loves me, he loves me not.” — It’s a game played by someone while plucking petals off of a flower.

On Valentine’s Day, it’s not unusual to want to know you are loved and that you do love.

But, “love is not always embraced by everyone,” says Areej Siddiqui, a family and couples therapist. “In fact, there are people who are love avoidant.”

They choose to remain single.

The factors are complex but are linked to the primary caregiver early in life. “There may have been a negative relationship. There may have been a smothering relationship. There may have been an emotionally vacant relationship.” All are factors that could lead a child to grow up reluctant, suspicious or afraid of intimacy.

We invited Areej Siddiqui to join us for a Conversation That Matters about love, our need to connect and how to get past avoidance.

Conversations That Matter is a partner program for the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University. The production of this program is made possible thanks to the support of the following and viewers like you. Please become a Patreon subscriber and support the production of this program, with a $1 pledge here.

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