Does reflective functioning mediate the relationship between attachment and personality (original) (raw)
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Personality and mental health, 2015
This is the first study to link attachment to both severity of total DSM-IV personality disorder (PD) traits and domains of general personality dysfunction, using a sample of 72 inpatients from New York City. We assessed a measure of global PD severity and the core domains of personality functioning using the severity indices of personality problems (SIPP-118). Attachment was measured with the experience in close relationships-revised (ECR-R) and the relationship style questionnaire (RSQ). Global PD severity correlated most strongly with attachment anxiety (r = 0.65). Regression of the SIPP-118 domains on attachment produced models that accounted for a substantial proportion of variance in those scales (R(2) ranging from 28.2 to 54.2%). SIPP-118 relational capacities were the strongest predictor of ECR-R avoidance (β = -0.88) and anxiety (β = -0.58), as well as RSQ secure (β = 0.53) and fearful (β = -0.65). In conclusion, insecure attachment strongly related to the severity of globa...
This survey describes the data of 60 adults in treatment for a mental health problem, referring to three parameters: attachment, alexithymia and metacognitive functions. In order to investigate the relationship between the psychological features mentioned above in patients with Emotional Disorders, they have been grouped into the three Clusters operationally defined in DSM-5: Cluster A (the “odd, eccentric” Cluster), Cluster B (the “dramatic, emotional, erratic” Cluster), and Cluster C (the “anxious, fearful” Cluster). We conducted a two-step analysis: firstly, a preliminary exploratory analysis based on non-parametric tests; then, in order to investigate the structure of the relationship among the instrumental variables, we applied Spearman’s rho correlation for each cluster. As we expected, patients with Cluster C Personality Disorder score lower rates of disorganized attachment (lower levels of anxiety attachment and avoidance attachment), lower levels in emotional dysregulation (Alexithymia), and a little higher levels in metacognitive functioning than the other two groups (Cluster A and B). Furthermore, there is a relationship between attachment styles and some specific typologies of disorders: indeed, while preoccupied attachment seems to be a specific feature of patients with Cluster C personality disorders, most of Cluster A and B patients showing the most dysfunctional pattern, the Fearful Avoidant attachment. Finally, Spearman’s rho correlation indicates statistically significant correlations in patients with Cluster A personality disorders between the inability to identify and describe emotions and the ability to understand others’ Emotional States.
An Attachment Theoretical Framework for Personality Disorders
Personality disorders are highly prevalent, associated with considerable morbidity, and difficult to treat. Intrapersonal and interpersonal difficulties are central to the pathology observed in personality disorders. Attachment theory provides a broad yet parsimonious explanatory framework for understanding the development, maintenance, and treatment of personality pathology. Attachment theory conceptualizes human behaviour in ways consistent with multiple scientific traditions, including evolutionary, developmental, and neuropsychological domains. The relevant literature has focused predominately on borderline personality disorder, although a few studies have examined attachment associations with other personality disorders, such as narcissistic and avoidant personality disorders. The authors first outline attachment theory and discuss assessment of attachment patterns from both developmental and social psychological viewpoints. Next, the authors present empirical support for attachment theory and its associations with personality, including studies of developmental, physiological, neurobiological, and genetic correlates of personality pathology. They then look at psychotherapy research relevant to (a) underlying components of current psychotherapies, (b) the relation between attachment and both therapy process and treatment outcome, and (c) changes in attachment styles as a result of personality disorder treatment. Finally, the authors call for future research to delve deeper into specific relationships between attachment constructs and personality pathology, as well as to address personality disorders more broadly.
As Ainsworth (1982, 1989) and Bowlby (1979, 1980) pointed out, all infants develop some form of attachment to their primary caregiver. Indeed, attachment began at infancy and continued throughout life. Secure attachment is a necessary precursor of the ability to regulate affect and to reflect on the emotional functioning of self and others (Fonagy, 2001). According to Hazan and Shaver (1987), the purpose of this survey is to investigate the relationship between attachment styles and emotional dysregulation, and between adult attachment and metacognition in patients with personality disorders. The research has involved 120 participants, aged 18 - 65 years and recruited during psychotherapy training. Control group is formed by 60 adults (mean = 30.07; standard deviation = 14.09); experimental group is formed by 60 patients with personality disorder (mean = 31.88; standard deviation = 12.21) grouped into three clusters: A (the “odd, eccentric” cluster), B (the “dramatic, emotional, erratic” cluster), and C (the “anxious, fearful” cluster). Paricipants completed the following tests: Experiences in Close Relationships Inventory, ECR, Alexithymia Scale, TAS-20 and Metacognitive Functions Screening Scale, MFSS-30. The results confirm the relationship between attachment styles, emotional dysregulation, and metacognitive functions in patients with personality disorders. More specifically, adult attachment and metacognitive functions seem to be positively related, while adult attachment and emotional dysregulation seem to be inversely related.
Chapter 7 Attachment theory and personality disorders
2013
The right of the editors to be identified as the authors of the e ditorial material, and of t he authors for their individual chapters , has been-asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights r e served. No pa rt of t his book may be reprinted o r r eprodu ced or utilised in any form or by any elect ronic, mechanical, or other m eans, now known or hereafter invented, includi ng phot ocopying and recording. or in any information storage or r etrieval system, without permission in writing from t he publishers. Trodemork notice: Produ ct or corpora te names may be. t rademarks or regis te re d t rademarks. and a re used only fo r identification and explanation wi thout intent to infr inge. A cata logue record for this book is available from t he Br itish Library Attachment theory in adult mental health : a guide to clinical practice I e dited
Brief Review Attachment and Personality Disorders
2015
Personality disorders (PDs) arise from core psychopathology of interpersonal relationships and understanding of self and others.1 The distorted representations of self and others, as well as unhealthy relationships that characterize persons with various PDs, indicate the possibility that persons with PDs have insecure attachment. Attachment John Bowlby postulated that human beings are under pressures of natural selection to evolve behavioural patterns since early in life, such as proximity seeking, smiling, and clinging, that evoke reciprocal caretaking behaviour in adults, such as touching, holding, and soothing.2-4 These behaviours promote the development of an enduring, emotional tone between infant and caregiver, which constitutes attachment. From these parental responses, the infant develops internal models of the self and others that function as templates for later relationships and beliefs including expectations of acceptance and rejection. A secure attachment should engender...
Borderline Personality Disorder and Emotion Dysregulation, 2021
Background The mentalization theory posits that interpersonal difficulties and maladaptive personality traits develop from an insecure attachment pattern with one’s caregiver and corresponding deficits in mentalizing—the ability to understand others’ and one’s own mental states. Mentalizing deficits have been theorized as the basis for all psychopathology, with the paradigmatic case being Borderline Personality Disorder. Nevertheless, developments in the personality field indicate personality pathology is best represented dimensionally, and such a proposal was outlined by the Alternative DSM-5 Model for Personality Disorders (AMPD). Despite evidence linking the mentalization theory to personality disorders, however, it has yet to be applied to Criterion B of the AMPD. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the moderating role of mentalizing in the relation between attachment and Criterion B maladaptive trait function in a sample of undergraduates. We hypothesized a model in wh...
Attachment and Reflective Functioning in Women With Borderline Personality Disorder
Journal of Personality Disorders, 2017
Insecure attachment and impairments in reflective functioning (RF) are thought to play a critical role in borderline personality disorder (BPD). In particular, the mentalization-based model argues that insecure attachment indirectly accounts for increased BPD features, notably via disruption of RF capacities. Although the mediation relationship between attachment, RF, and BPD is supported by previous evidence, it remains to be directly tested in adults with BPD. In the current study, a sample of 55 female adult BPD patients and 105 female healthy controls completed a battery of self-report measures to investigate the interplay between attachment, RF capacities, and BPD clinical status. Overall, the results showed that BPD patients pre- dominantly reported insecure attachment, characterized by negative internal working models of the self as unlovable and unimportant to others, and decreased RF abilities. Our findings further indicated that actual RF capacities mediated the relationsh...
Attachment and Borderline Personality Disorder
Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association, 2000
The author outlines his concept of reflective function or mentalization, which is defined as the capacity to think about mental states in oneself and in others. He presents evidence to suggest that the capacity for reflective awareness in a child's caregiver increases the likelihood of the child's secure attachment, which in turn facilitates the development of mentalization in the child. He proposes that a secure attachment relationship offers the child a chance to explore the mind of the caregiver, and in this way to learn about minds; he formulates this model of the birth of the psychological self as a variation on the Cartesian cogito: `My caregiver thinks of me as thinking and therefore I exist as a thinker.` This model is then applied to provide insight into some personality-disordered individuals who were victims of childhood abuse. The author proposes (1) that individuals who experience early trauma may defensively inhibit their capacity to mentalize to avoid having t...
The Impact of Attachment Parameters in Childhood on the Personality of Adults with Mental Disorders
Psychiatria Danubina, 2019
Background: Attachment parameters have an effect on later relationship patterns and the development of parameters of selfconcept and personality. In the current study the role of attachment parameters on personality dimensions was investigated, especially with respect to personality disorders. Subjects and methods: 134 psychiatric inpatients were examined on attachment and personality parameters using the schedule FEB as a questionnaire on the parental attachment and the SKI as a self-concept inventory. Results: Regression and correlation analyses suggest positive influences of parental care and negative influences of parental overprotection on the development of ego-strength in adulthood. Patients with personality disorders reported to have experienced less maternal care during their childhood and showed a trend towards a reduced ego-strength in adulthood compared to patients with others mental disorders. Conclusions: Relationships of attachment parameters in childhood with personality dimension are explorable. This approach seems meaningful for a better understanding of the development of personality disorders. Clinicians should be familiar with attachment patterns when treating people with mental disorders in order to adequately include appropriate personality dimensions in the therapy.