Attachment as a transformative process in AEDP: Operationalizing the intersection of attachment theory and affective neuroscience.

While many models of individual psychotherapy acknowledge the significance of attachment theory for clinical work, Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) seeks to operationalize the intersection of attachment and affective neuroscience to introduce innovations in its clinical practice. AEDP's stance and techniques aim to (a) foster attachment security through the clinical process, and (b) harness the transformative resilience of secure attachment to potentiate deep and lasting psychological change. Viewing secure attachment as a transformative experience, case vignettes offer examples of AEDP attachment-based work: moment-to-moment experiential work processing attachment security as a powerful new experience; and then, its metatherapeutic processing. Integrating a new, positive relational experience in the here-and-now organically evokes the painful experiences of the original relational trauma. Thus, traumatic memories are also worked through in the service of positive psychological transformation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Negative self-synchronization: Will I change to be like you when it is bad for me?

The current research examined whether people will attempt to modify internal aspects of the self to make them congruent with others, even when those modifications have negative implications for the self, a phenomenon we refer to as negative self-synchronization. We proposed that negative self-synchronization will occur only for individuals who are securely attached. Across 4 experiments, participants who were high in secure attachment were more likely than those low in attachment security to engage in negative self-synchronization (Experiments 1–4). Attachment style did not moderate positive self-synchronization (Experiments 1 and 2). In addition, priming secure attachment increased negative self-synchronization among insecure participants (Experiments 2 and 3). Conversely, priming insecure attachment decreased negative self-synchronization among secure participants (Experiment 4). Implications of these findings for social synchronization processes, the need to belong, and attachment security are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Development of prosocial, individualistic, and competitive orientations: Theory and preliminary evidence.

The authors adopt an interdependence analysis of social value orientation, proposing that prosocial, individualistic, and competitive orientations are (a) partially rooted in different patterns of social interaction as experienced during the periods spanning early childhood to young adulthood and (b) further shaped by different patterns of social interaction as experienced during early adulthood, middle adulthood, and old age. Congruent with this analysis, results revealed that relative to individualists and competitors, prosocial individuals exhibited greater levels of secure attachment (Studies 1 and 2) and reported having more siblings, especially sisters (Study 3). Finally, the prevalence of prosocials increased—and the prevalence of individualists and competitors decreased—from early adulthood to middle adulthood and old age (Study 4). (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Child Attachment Interview: A psychometric study of reliability and discriminant validity.

While well-established attachment measures have been developed for infancy, early childhood, and adulthood, a "measurement gap" has been identified in middle childhood, where behavioral or representational measures are not yet sufficiently robust. This article documents the development of a new measure--the Child Attachment Interview (CAI)--which seeks to bridge this gap. The CAI is a semistructured interview, in which children are invited to describe their relationships with their primary caregivers. The coding system is informed by the Adult Attachment Interview and the Strange Situation Procedure, and produces 4 attachment categories along with a continuous measure of attachment security based on ratings of attachment-related dimensions. The main psychometric properties are presented, including interrater reliability, test-retest reliability, and concurrent and discriminant validities, both for normally developing children and for those referred for mental health treatment. The CAI correlates as expected with other attachment measures and predicts independently collected ratings of social functioning. The findings suggest that the CAI is a reliable, valid, and promising measure of child-parent attachment in middle childhood. Directions for improvements to the coding system are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Romantic love conceptualized as an attachment process.

This article explores the possibility that romantic love is an attachment process—a biosocial process by which affectional bonds are formed between adult lovers, just as affectional bonds are formed earlier in life between human infants and their parents. Key components of attachment theory, developed by Bowlby, Ainsworth, and others to explain the develoment of affectional bonds in infancy, were translated into terms appropriate to adult romantic love. The translation centered on the three major styles of attachment in infancy—secure, avoidant, and anxious/ambivalent—and on the notion that continuity of relationship style is due in part to mental models (Bowlby's "inner working models") of self and social life. These models, and hence a person's attachment style, are seen as determined in part by childhood relationships with parents. Two questionnaire studies indicated that (a) relative prevalence of the three attachment styles is roughly the same in adulthood as in infancy, (b) the three kinds of adults differ predictably in the way they experience romantic love, and (c) attachment style is related in theoretically meaningful ways to mental models of self and social relationships and to relationship experiences with parents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Childhood physical abuse, attachment, and adult social support: Test of a mediational model.

This study examined the mediating role of attachment on the relationship between childhood physical abuse and perceived social support in adulthood. The 2 underlying dimensions of attachment, view of self and view of other, were both hypothesized to be potential mediators. Young adults, with and without a history of childhood physical abuse, completed a series of questionnaires inquiring about past abuse experiences and current levels of attachment and social support. Results indicated a robust mediational effect. Namely, both attachment variables were significant mediators in the relationship between childhood physical abuse and social support. In addition, the mediation occurred across all sources of social support, that is, social support from family/close friends, peers, and authority figures. Theoretical and clinical implications are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment, attractiveness, and social interaction: A diary study.

To what extent are attachment styles manifested in natural social activity? A total of 125 participants categorized as possessing secure, avoidant, or anxious–ambivalent attachment styles kept structured social interaction diaries for 1 week. Several theoretically important findings emerged. First, compared with secure and anxious–ambivalent persons, avoidant persons reported lower levels of intimacy, enjoyment, promotive interaction, and positive emotions, and higher levels of negative emotions, primarily in opposite-sex interactions. Analyses indicated that avoidant persons may structure social activities in ways that minimize closeness. Second, secure people differentiated more clearly than either insecure group between romantic and other opposite-sex partners. Third, the subjective experiences of anxious-ambivalent persons were more variable than those of the other groups. Finally, the authors examined and rejected the possibility that attachment effects might be confounded with physical attractiveness. These findings suggest that feelings and behaviors that arise during spontaneous, everyday social activity may contribute to the maintenance of attachment styles in adulthood. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The dance of attachment.

This paper unites two sets of research findings on attachment to provide some guiding ideas for the monitoring and alteration of insecure therapeutic relationships. Only individual therapy with adults is considered. The aim is to explain how empirical findings can produce a guiding theoretical understanding of what can be the changing momentary dynamics between client and therapist. It is assumed that therapists enable change from insecure to more secure types of relating. The paper does not claim that attending to attachment dynamics in therapy will promote psychological change by itself. However, what is suggested is recognizing the major forces within intimate meaningful relationships. It is possible to relate the empirical findings to the terms resistance and misempathy (a restatement of transference) via the details of the dynamics of relating. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Working models of attachment and daily social interactions.

This study tested whether working models of attachment guide how people construe and respond to social interactions by examining immediate responses to a range of everyday interactions and to specific attachment-relevant interactions. Patterns for immediate reports were compared with those for more memory-based, global reports. Secure, preoccupied, fearful, and dismissing participants provided immediate reports after their social interactions for 1 week and completed retrospective questionnaires. Attachment differences were accentuated in attachment-relevant, high-conflict interactions. Preoccupied participants responded more favorably after conflict than did secure or dismissing-avoidant participants. Immediate and retrospective patterns diverged in important ways. How working models contribute to perceptions may depend on the fit between attachment goals and the situation and on the extent of memory-based processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Attachment and the experience and expression of emotions in romantic relationships: A developmental perspective.

In this longitudinal study, the authors tested a developmental hypothesis derived from attachment theory and recent empirical findings. Target participants were 78 individuals who have been studied intensively from infancy into their mid-20s. When targets were 20-23 years old, the authors tested the way in which interpersonal experiences at 3 pivotal points in each target's earlier social development--infancy/early childhood, early elementary school, and adolescence--predicted the pattern of positive versus negative emotions experienced with his or her romantic partner. A double-mediation model revealed that targets classified as securely attached at 12 months old were rated as more socially competent during early elementary school by their teachers. Targets' social competence, in turn, forecasted their having more secure relationships with close friends at age 16, which in turn predicted more positive daily emotional experiences in their adult romantic relationships (both self- and partner-reported) and less negative affect in conflict resolution and collaborative tasks with their romantic partners (rated by observers). These results are discussed in terms of attachment theory and how antecedent life experiences may indirectly shape events in current relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Association between the serotonin transporter promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and adult unresolved attachment.

Research on antecedents of organized attachment has focused on the quality of caregiving received during childhood. In recent years, research has begun to examine the influence of genetic factors on quality of infant attachment. However, no published studies report on the association between specific genetic factors and adult attachment. This study examined the link between the 5-HTTLPR promoter polymorphism of the serotonin transporter gene and adult unresolved attachment assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview. Genetic material and information on attachment-related loss or trauma were available for 86 participants. Multivariate regression analyses showed an association between the short 5-HTTLPR allele and increased risk for unresolved attachment. Temperament traits and psychological symptoms did not affect the association between 5-HTTLPR and unresolved attachment. The authors hypothesize that the increased susceptibility to unresolved attachment among carriers of the short allele of 5-HTTLPR is consistent with the role of serotonin in modulation of frontal-amygdala circuitry. The findings challenge current thinking by demonstrating significant genetic influences on a phenomenon previously thought to be largely environmentally driven. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adult attachment and the perception of facial expression of emotion.

Adult attachment orientation has been associated with specific patterns of emotion regulation. The present research examined the effects of attachment orientation on the perceptual processing of emotional stimuli. Experimental participants played computerized movies of faces that expressed happiness, sadness, and anger. Over the course of the movies, the facial expressions became neutral. Participants reported the frame at which the initial expression no longer appeared on the face. Under conditions of no distress (Study 1), fearfully attached individuals saw the offset of both happiness and anger earlier, and preoccupied and dismissive individuals later, than the securely attached individuals. Under conditions of distress (Study 2), insecurely attached individuals perceived the offset of negative facial expressions as occurring later than did the secure individuals, and fearfully attached individuals saw the offset later than either of the other insecure groups. The mechanisms underlying the effects are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Maternal representations of past and current attachment relationships, and emotional experience across the transition to motherhood: A longitudinal study.

Sad and anxious feelings are known to increase in the immediate postpartum period, whereas studies on new mothers' other emotional qualities such as anger are scarce. In laboratory studies, attachment security was found to be associated with effective emotion regulation in challenging situations. This study investigated attachment representations of experiences with parents and of current experiences with the partner as predictors of sad, anxious, and angry feelings across the transition to motherhood. Seventy-seven pregnant women in their third trimester were administered the Adult Attachment Interview and the Current Relationship Interview. The Differential Emotions Scale was given in pregnancy and at the infant's ages of 2 weeks, 2, 4, and 6 months, asking both mothers and fathers about maternal emotional experience. Sadness and anxiety increased 2 weeks postpartum and returned to below baseline over the following months, while anger did not change. Contrary to mothers with an insecure representation of their couple relationship, those with a secure representation reported and displayed increased sadness and anxiety 2 weeks after giving birth, from which they quickly recovered. For mothers secure in their representation of past attachment relationships with parents, an increase of low-level anger emerged 4 months postpartum, which did not occur in insecure participants and receded quickly. It can be concluded that secure representations of current and past attachment relationships help new mothers express and recover from negative emotions. These findings further elucidate the associations between attachment status and emotion regulation while adding a couple perspective. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development.

Reviews the book, A secure base: Parent-child attachment and healthy human development by John Bowlby (see record 1988-98501-000). This volume consists of nine lectures given over the last decade by the author, an eminent child researcher and psychoanalyst. Seven of the lectures have been published elsewhere. Each lecture, slightly rewritten in chapter form, further illuminates specific aspects and implications of Bowlby's theory of attachment. These include: the relationship between family violence and early attachment experiences; the central features of sensitive, caring parenting and the unique roles of fathers; the origins of depression in childhood experience; and the relationship between attachment theory and the therapeutic process. The reviewer believes that the book should serve as "a secure base" for those eclectic therapists seeking to integrate and extend Bowlby's ideas in their clinical work. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of an attachment-focused group preventive intervention on insecure women.

Research indicates that insecure individuals are at risk for relationship distress. A recently developed 17-hr manualized attachment-focused (AF) group intervention targets the attachment concerns of insecure individuals. AF group intervention involves four sequential segments: (a) dysfunctional relationship beliefs, (b) childhood factors influencing partner choices and relationship styles, (c) relationship skills training, and (d) relationship strategies. This study tested the effectiveness of AF group intervention conducted over a 3-day weekend on 13 young adult women with insecure adult attachment patterns. At the 6-month follow-up, AF intervention participants reported improved interpersonal styles, enhanced satisfaction with family relationships, decreased agreement with dysfunctional relationship beliefs, and less fearful and more secure attachment patterns compared with controls. Participants with a fearful-avoidant attachment pattern reported the greatest gains. These findings support using attachment theory principles in group preventive interventions with insecure individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prospective effects of interparental conflict on child attachment security and the moderating role of parents' romantic attachment.

This study investigated the impact of parents' observed conflict behavior on subsequent child attachment security, both as a main effect and as moderated by parents' romantic attachment. Participants were 80 heterosexual couples involving men from the Oregon Youth Study and their first-born children. The authors used hierarchical linear modeling to predict child security with each parent. Interparental psychological aggression predicted lower child security with father, regardless of romantic attachment. If the father was insecure, interparental positive engagement predicted lower child security with him. If either the mother or father was avoidant, interparental withdrawal did not predict lower child security, though it did for more secure parents. Results are discussed in terms of implications of attachment-(in)congruent behavior for parents' emotional availability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The attachment system in fledgling relationships: An activating role for attachment anxiety.

Is it sensible to study attachment dynamics between potential romantic partners before they share a full-fledged attachment bond? The present data indicate that such an approach may reveal novel insights about initial attraction processes. Four studies suggest that the state-like experience of attachment anxiety has functional implications within fledgling (i.e., desired or undeveloped) romantic relationships, well before the formation of an attachment bond. Studies 1 and 3 reveal that attachment anxiety directed toward a particular romantic interest is elevated before (in comparison with after) participants report being in an established relationship. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrate that such partner-specific attachment anxiety predicts attachment-relevant outcomes in fledgling relationships, including proximity seeking, safe haven, secure base, passionate love, and other approach behaviors. These associations were reliable above and beyond (and were typically as strong as or stronger than) the effect of sexual desire. Finally, Study 4 presents evidence that partner-specific attachment anxiety may cause several of these attachment-relevant outcomes. Attachment anxiety seems to be a normative experience and may signal the activation of the attachment system during the earliest stages of romantic relationships. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The efficacy of toddler-parent psychotherapy to reorganize attachment in the young offspring of mothers with major depressive disorder: A randomized preventive trial.

The development of insecure attachment relationships in the offspring of mothers with major depressive disorder (MDD) may initiate a negative trajectory leading to future psychopathology. Therefore, the provision of theoretically guided interventions designed to promote secure attachment is of paramount importance. Mothers who had experienced MDD since their child's birth were recruited (n = 130) and randomized to toddler-parent psychotherapy (DI) or to a control group (DC). Nondepressed mothers with no current or history of major mental disorder and their toddlers also were recruited for a nondepressed comparison group (NC; n = 68). Children averaged 20.34 months of age at the initial assessment. Higher rates of insecure attachment were present in both the DI and the DC groups at baseline, relative to the NC group. At postintervention, at age 36 months, insecure attachment continued to predominate in the DC group. In contrast, the rate of secure attachment had increased substantially in the DI group and was higher than that for the DC and the NC groups. These results demonstrate the efficacy of toddler-parent psychotherapy in fostering secure attachment relationships in young children of depressed mothers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family-of-origin maltreatment, posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, social information processing deficits, and relationship abuse perpetration.

In this study, the authors examined the interrelations among family-of-origin maltreatment variables, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, social information processing deficits, and male-to-female psychological and physical intimate relationship abuse perpetration in adulthood among a community sample of 164 men and their partners. In bivariate analyses, higher family-of-origin childhood parental rejection was associated with the perpetration of psychological and physical abuse in adulthood, and childhood exposure to interparental violence was also associated with adult psychological abuse perpetration. Structural equation modeling analyses indicated that when childhood variables and other study variables were considered together, only childhood parental rejection was associated with the abuse perpetration outcomes, and these effects were indirect through PTSD symptoms and social information processing deficits. Results indicate a need for further investigation into the mechanisms accounting for the impact of early maltreatment on the development of abusive intimate relationship behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)