Alcohol Addiction and the Attachment System: An Empirical Study of Attachment Style, Alexithymia, and Psychiatric Disorders in Alcoholic Inpatients

Abstract

This study aims at investigating alcoholic inpatients' attachment system by combining a measurement of adult attachment style (AAQ, . Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 52(3): 511–524) and the degree of alexithymia (BVAQ, . Bermond-Vorst Alexithymia Questionnaire, Unpublished data). Data were collected from 101 patients (71 men, 30 women) admitted to a psychiatric hospital in Belgium for alcohol use-related problems, between September 2003 and December 2004. To investigate the research question, cluster analyses and regression analyses are performed. We found that it makes sense to distinguish three subgroups of alcoholic inpatients with different degrees of impairment of the attachment system. Our results also reveal a pattern of correspondence between the severity of psychiatric symptoms—personality disorder traits (ADP-IV), anxiety (STAI), and depression (BDI-II-Nl)—and the severity of the attachment system's impairment. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further research are highlighted and implications for diagnosis and treatment are discussed.

Keywords:

• alcohol addiction
• alcohol use-related problems
• alexithymia
• attachment
• attachment style
• attachment system
• psychiatric disorders
• anxiety
• depression
• personality disorders