Attachment and Mental Health

Dear Colleagues,

Attachment theory was first introduced in the seminal work of British psychoanalyst John Bowlby [1], who later famously claimed that “Successful parenting is a principal key to the mental health of the next generation” [2]. While this tenet holds true more than 30 years later, the field has evolved substantially. This is related, in part, to the massive growth of neuroscience [3], the ongoing emergence of attachment measures for all age groups, and the evolution of new concepts such as “attachment neuroscience” [4] and “modern attachment theory” [5].

Fundamental to attachment theory are our early experiences of stress, and appropriate co-regulation/self-regulation, for development of the neural systems supporting behavioural, social/interpersonal (e.g., trust, mentalization), emotional, motivational, and developmental outcomes. Insecure attachment patterns have, in turn, been linked to longer term physical and mental health challenges through individuals’ implicit internal working models. While evidence regarding the links between attachment and mental health have grown, there is still much to understand to improve the evidence base and inform better ways of preventing, diagnosing, and treating mental illness.

Potential topics for this special issue include, but are not limited to:

• Attachment insights for diagnoses e.g., borderline personality disorder.
• Long-term implications of childhood stress/trauma and attachment for mental health.
• Links between attachment and mental health in clinical samples.
• Attachment and regulation, including self-regulation and dyadic regulation.
• Attachment and trauma.
• Attachment and substance use in relation to trauma and mental health.
• Attachment theory and mental health treatment, including the therapeutic relationship and client behaviours.
• Outcomes from attachment-informed interventions.
• Attachment and mental health care utilization.

Submissions relating to links between attachment patterns and mental health during childhood and adolescence, and prospective studies, are especially welcome.

References

1. Bowlby, J. The nature of the child’s tie to his mother. Int. J. Psychoanal. 1958, XXXIX, 1–23.
2. Bowlby, J. A Secure Base. Basic Books: New York, NY, USA, 1988.
3. Yeung, A. W. K., Goto, T. K., Leung, W. K. The changing Landsc. of neuroscience research, 2006–2015: A bibliometric study. Front. Neurosci. 2017, 11. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00120
4. Coan, J. A. Toward a neuroscience of attachment. In Handbook of Attachment: Theory, Research, and Clinical Applications. Cassidy J. & Shaver P. R., Eds.; The Guilford Press: New York, NY, USA, 2008, pp. 241–265.
5. Schore. J. R., Schore, A. N. Modern Attachment Theory: The Central Role of Affect Regulation in Development and Treatment. Clin. Soc. Work. J. 2008, 36, 9–20. doi 10.1007/s10615-007-0111-7

Prof. Dr. Pamela Meredith
Guest Editor

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