Changes in attachment organization, emotion dysregulation, and interpersonal problems among women in treatment for abuse

ABSTRACT

Objective: Women who have experienced childhood abuse often have interpersonal difficulties. The current study examines whether changes in emotion dysregulation mediate the relationship between changes in attachment patterns and changes in interpersonal problems among women who completed treatment for the sequelae of childhood abuse.

Method: Participants were 36 women who completed a program targeting the psychological consequences of childhood maltreatment. At pre-and posttreatment, participants completed a projective assessment of adult attachment, and self-report measures of emotion dysregulation and interpersonal problems.

Results: Changes in emotion dysregulation mediated the relationship between shifts toward resolved attachment and changes in interpersonal problems. Compared to participants who maintained their pretreatment attachment patterns, those who shifted toward a resolved pattern became significantly more able to clarify and describe their emotions. Improvements in these abilities were associated with decreased problems with being nonassertive, overly accommodating, self-sacrificing, and socially inhibited. Additionally, improvements in emotional clarity uniquely mediated the relationship between shifts to resolved attachment and reductions in problems with being domineering and intrusive. Moreover, decreased difficulty describing feelings uniquely mediated the relationship between shifts to resolved attachment and decreases in problems with being cold.

Conclusions: Among women who complete treatment for the sequelae of childhood abuse, shifts to resolved attachment were indirectly related to decreases in interpersonal problems through improved emotional processing.

KEYWORDS:

• Attachment
• childhood abuse
• emotion regulation
• interpersonal relationships
• psychological trauma sequelae

Funding

This research was funded in part by Women’s College Hospital.

Acknowledgments

This research was presented at the 33rd Annual Conference of the International Society of Trauma and Dissociation.

Notes

1. Attachment strategies characterized by dysregulated internal working models are referred to as disorganized among children and as unresolved among adults (George, 1996).

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded in part by Women’s College Hospital.