One of the most important benefits of this insight has to
with your self-perception. Intimacy clashes are very destructive for
the non-avoidant partner, who is constantly being pushed away by
the avoidant partner. We can see this happening in the examples
we cite throughout the book, in behaviors such as maintaining a
high degree of secrecy and then blaming the other person of being
jealous and needy, in preferring separate beds, and in finding ways
to spend less time together/If you are with an avoidant partner,
you are constantly being rejected and rebuffed. After experiencing
these distancing strategies for a while, you start to blame yourself
You may believe that if your partner was with someone else, s/hed
act differently; that with another s/hed surely want to be closer
than with you. You begin to feel unattractive and inadequate.