Attachment and Coping in Psychosis in Relation to Spiritual Figures

Overview

Journal BMC Psychiatry

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Psychiatry

Date 2015 Oct 9

PMID 26446496

Citations 4

Authors

Philippe Huguelet

Sylvia Mohr

Isabelle Rieben

Roland Hasler

Nader Perroud

Pierre-Yves Brandt

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Studies have found higher levels of insecure attachment in individuals with schizophrenia. Attachment theory provides a framework necessary for conceptualizing the development of interpersonal functioning. Some aspects of the attachment of the believer to his/her spiritual figure are similar to those between the child and his/her parents. The correspondence hypothesis suggests that early child-parent interactions correspond to a person's relation to a spiritual figure. The compensation hypothesis suggests that an insecure attachment history would lead to a strong religiousness/spirituality as a compensation for the lack of felt security. The aim of this study is to explore attachment models in psychosis vs. healthy controls, the relationships between attachment and psychopathology and the attachment processes related to spiritual figures.

Methods: Attachment models were measured in 30 patients with psychosis and 18 controls with the AAI (Adult Attachment interview) in relationship with psychopathology. Beliefs and practices related to a spiritual figure were investigated by qualitative and quantitative analyses.

Results: Patients with psychosis showed a high prevalence of insecure avoidant attachment. Spiritual entities functioned like attachment figures in two thirds of cases. Interviews revealed the transformation of internal working models within relation to a spiritual figure: a compensation process was found in 7 of the 32 subjects who showed a significant attachment to a spiritual figure.

Conclusions: Attachment theory allows us to highlight one of the underlying dimensions of spiritual coping in patients with psychosis.

Citing Articles

Positive Religious Coping and Associated Factors Among Participants with Severe Mental Illness Attending Felege Hiwot Comprehensive Specialized Hospital, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, 2021.

Birhan B, Eristu N Psychol Res Behav Manag. 2023; 16:2931-2941.

PMID: 37551393 PMC: 10404419. DOI: 10.2147/PRBM.S421684.

Adult Attachment and Personal, Social, and Symptomatic Recovery From Psychosis: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

van Bussel E, Nguyen N, Wierdsma A, van Aken B, Willems I, Mulder C Front Psychiatry. 2021; 12:641642.

PMID: 33716835 PMC: 7943841. DOI: 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.641642.

The relationship between existential well-being and mood-related psychiatric burden in Indian young adults with attachment deficits: a cross-cultural validation study.

Hiebler-Ragger M, Kamble S, Aberer E, Unterrainer H BMC Psychol. 2020; 8(1):21.

PMID: 32093787 PMC: 7041092. DOI: 10.1186/s40359-020-0388-7.

[Spirituality - Value of the relationship].

Utsch M Nervenarzt. 2016; 87(11):1152-1162.

PMID: 27752722 DOI: 10.1007/s00115-016-0228-4.

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