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

Résumé 0

"Attachment theory has become a focusof interest in psychosomatic research inrecent years. The theoretical perspective ofattachment development covers issues ofthe developmental predisposition forpsychosomatic illness, psychobiologicalaspects and issues of coping. In detail fourissues of psychosomatic research might beaddressed from an attachment theoreticalperspective: (1) Is the prevalence of insecurepatterns of attachment increased inpatients with psychosomatic disturbances(developmental aspect)? (2) Does insecureattachment correlate with a higher physiologicalarousal in reaction to various kindsof stress (psychobiological aspect)? (3) Areassociations to be found between insecureattachment and disturbances of affectregulation, which are linked to the aetiologyof psychosomatic illness behaviour(aspect of coping)? In the paper presentedwe focus on two of these issues: we reportthe empirical evidence suggesting a high proportion of insecure attachment in psychosomaticdisorder and discuss the linksbetween insecure attachment, affect regulationand psychosomatic illness."