天美传媒

Abstract

Background: The following study investigates the differences in attachment-related characteristics between adolescent inpatients with eating disorders (n=30), depression (n=30) and healthy controls (n=30). Method: The Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP) was used to assess attachment patterns in the clinical and healthy samples. According to the AAP guidelines, we can assess indicators representing attachment-related fear and threat that are rooted in experiences of attachment trauma. Some of the AAP picture stimuli unleash this traumatic material leaving the individual in a state of attachment dysregulation. Results: The findings demonstrate an overrepresentation of the unresolved attachment status in the patient samples. Although the difference on the amount of fear indicators between the clinical and healthy groups did not reach statistical significance, they more often lead to attachment dysregulation in the clinical groups. When looking at attachment themes in particular, patients with eating disorders showed dysregulation more often when story characters are in situations of extreme isolation and emptiness (e.g. like being in jail, desperately alone, separate from the rest of the world or locked in), whereas depressive patients more often report on helplessness (e.g. feeling out of control, being overwhelmed or trapped, hopeless). Conclusion: These preliminary results provide evidence of not only an overrepresentation of the unresolved attachment pattern in adolescent patients with psychiatric disorders but also indicate significant differences on attachment themes associated with trauma in depression and eating disorders. Integrating these attachment-related issues into specific psychotherapeutic interventions might lead to a better outcome in that age group.

Biography

Email: manuela.gander@uibk.ac.at