Attachment 6: Attachment issues in adult life
If you have already read ‘Attachment 1: The Power of Attachment styles in Relationships’, and ‘How the Brain Works’ this article talks specifically about attachment issues.
Since the 1950’s psychologists have understood that how we relate to others and form emotional relationships starts in our early childhood developmental years. This understanding has continuously gained strength in the past thirty years with increased scientific studies on children, adults, mothers, and young babies. This volume of information now shows clearly that the relationships we have with our early caregivers lays the foundations of how we will attach to others throughout our lives (see The Power of Attachment Styles in Relationships for more).
Research indicates that attachment disorders may be associated with changes that occur in certain parts of the brain that are responsible for regulation of emotional learning, reward, and memory. Studies have shown that disordered attachment during early developmental periods has been associated with an increase in amygdala size in adulthood.[1,2] For more information specifically on brain development and attachment see: The brain and attchment
Children can be diagnosed as having attachment disorder, for adults however, there are no current clinical guidelines recognising this in adulthood. However, many studies have now linked early attachment issues to adult physical, mental, and social problems.
This is thought to happen when an attachment issues are not recognised and addressed in childhood, and so symptoms continue into adulthood.
Studies have now linked attachment to:
Depression and anxiety: Adults with attachment issues tend to internalise emotions. This can make them susceptible to mental health problems. A 2017 study showed that that preoccupied and unresolved attachment was found to have a significant association with depression.[3] A separate study also from 2017 found that anxious attachment can be linked to anxiety and emotional dysregulation.[3]
Alexithymia: This is a subclinical personality trait that causes an extreme lack of emotional awareness – difficulty in identifying, expressing, or even experiencing emotions. This increases difficulty forming and maintaining relationships.[4,5]
Addiction: Adults with attachment disorders are more likely to develop addictive habits. One study reported that increased alcohol consumption served as an emotional coping strategy for adults with attachment disorders and alexithymia.[6]
Addressing attachment issues
For many, attachment can be fluid across a life span, shifting as we grown, learn to challenge our thoughts and behaviors, and gain exposure to different types of relationships (romantic and plutonic). Attachment is a relational issue, and so it is in relation to others that we can grow, change and challenge ourselves. Attachment issues take time, understanding, and patience to address. If in a relationship, understanding how your attachment affects the way you communicate, and what your specific needs may be can be helpful to express to your partner, to help them provide the support you may need.
Psychotherapy can be helpful for those with attachment issues in adulthood by providing a safe and trusting place for the expression and exploration of emotions more deeply. [7] This can be difficult sometimes for those with attachment issues, who may need help to identify and understand thoughts and behaviours that might be having negative impacts on themselves and in relationships. In being reflected back to ourselves we can begin to shift our perspective and position. Understanding the relationship we have with our inner voice, where it steams from, and being able to challenge negative or destructive self-beliefs can be very helpful to understand patterns of behaviour that we fall into. In addition to this, therapy provides the opportunity to develop another kind of relationship, all of which are vehicles for changing and shaping our attachment. For some who struggle with close attachments, the structured, predictable, safe and boundaried relationship formed with a therapist can provide a stable basis to explore how to form relationships with others ‘in the real world’.
For those suffering addiction, it is important to have support from an addiction programme as well as medical practitioners such as a GP who would be able to prescribe medication as and when needed. Group therapy can also be very helpful to those with an addiction.
References
1. Lyons-Ruth K, Pechtel P, Yoon SA, Anderson CM, Teicher MH. Disorganized attachment in infancy predicts greater amygdala volume in adulthood. Behav Brain Res. 2016;308:83-93.
2. van Hoof MJ, Riem MM, Garrett AS, van der Wee NJ, van IJzendoorn MH, Vermeiren RR. Unresolved–disorganized attachment adjusted for a general psychopathology factor associated with atypical amygdala resting-state functional connectivity. Eur J Psychotraumatol. 2019;10(1):1583525.
3. Dagan O, Facompré CR, Bernard K. Adult attachment representations and depressive symptoms: a meta-analysis. J Affect Disord. 2018;236:274-290.
4. Nielsen SK, Lønfeldt N, Wolitzky-Taylor KB, Hageman I, Vangkilde S, Daniel SI. Adult attachment style and anxiety – the mediating role of emotion regulation. J Affect Disord. 2017;218:253-259.
5. Schimmenti A, Caretti V. Attachment, trauma, and alexithymia. In Luminet O, Bagby R, Taylor G, eds. Alexithymia: Advances in Research, Theory, and Clinical Practice. Cambridge University; 2018;127-141.
6. Lyvers M, Mayer K, Needham K, Thorberg FA. Parental bonding, adult attachment, and theory of mind: a developmental model of alexithymia and alcohol‐related risk. J Clin Psychol. 2019;75(7):1288-1304.
7. Levy KN, Draijer N, Kivity Y, Yeomans FE, Rosenstein LK. Transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP). Curr Treat Options Psychiatry. 2019;6(4):312-324.