Infants witnessing family violence have care givers who are both frightening and frightened. In this situation infants usually develop the most severe kind of insecure attachment, the disorganised kind, because there is no way for them to develop organised strategies to feel safe as the people they need to help them feel safe are those who make them frightened. When the infant’s anxiety is raised by abuse or threat of abuse, the infant needs to cling to the attachment figure, even if that person also frightens them.