Many people have an irrational fear of intimacy and this can adversely affect their relationship with their partner. Sometimes this fear may be unconscious and you may not even realise that you suffer from this condition. There are many theories as to why this happens. According to a study in the Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease such behaviour may be due to innate personality traits such as being more of a loner or is a delayed reaction to unmet childhood needs. According to researchers infants seek proximity to their caregivers for emotional support. However if the parent is unresponsive or