Attachment representation and affect regulation. Current findings of attachment research and their relevance for psychosomatic medicine

Carl Eduard Scheidt, Elisabeth Waller

Attachment theory has become a focus of interest in psychosomatic research in recent years. The theoretical perspective of attachment development covers issues of the developmental predisposition for psychosomatic illness, psychobiological aspects and issues of coping. In detail four issues of psychosomatic research might be addressed from an attachment theoretical perspective: (1) Is the prevalence of insecure patterns of attachment increased in patients with psychosomatic disturbances (developmental aspect)? (2) Does insecure attachment correlate with a higher physiological arousal in reaction to various kinds of stress (psychobiological aspect)? (3) Are associations to be found between insecure attachment and disturbances of affect regulation, which are linked to the aetiology of psychosomatic illness behaviour (aspect of coping)? In the paper presented we focus on two of these issues: we report the empirical evidence suggesting a high proportion of insecure attachment in psychosomatic disorder and discuss the links between insecure attachment, affect regulation and psychosomatic illness.

4_1_8.pdf