5.0 KiB
| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Attachment and health | 4/4 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_and_health | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T15:31:25.364716+00:00 | kb-cron |
=== Drug use === Recreational substances provide a powerful external means of regulating affect. Insecure attachment is considered to be one of the chief psychological constructs associated with increased risk for drug use. A small study in Germany found that drug users were less likely to be secure than non-drug users and that heroin users in particular had a markedly high rate of fearful attachment. Researchers believed that these findings were in keeping with the "self-medication" hypothesis of drug use and that heroine, as opposed to other drugs of abuse, may target attachment distress more readily by acting more directly on the opioid system. Jaak Panksepp hypothesized in the 1980s that endogenous opioids are responsible for the warm, affiliative, interpersonal feelings that come with social connection, and this has been supported by recent evidence showing that naloxone administration, an opioid blocker, results in a decreased feeling of social connection in healthy individuals. Recent work also demonstrates that attachment dimensions have bearing on natural opioid signaling, with brain scans showing that those high in attachment avoidance have decreased opioid receptor availability. In clinical samples insecure attachment is related to higher opioid use in chronic pain patients and higher analgesic consumption during labor. In a study of young adult females, drug use was one of several risky behaviours that occurred more frequently in those with insecure attachment along with unsafe driving and sexual practices.
=== Sex === Risky sexual behaviour is defined as sexual contact with an increased risk of either unwanted pregnancy or sexually transmitted infection. In a study aimed at evaluating the evidence supporting six major risky sex theories, Leslie Simons and her colleagues found that only the social support and attachment theory had strong empirical support. In the attachment theory model, risk is enhanced in insecurely attached individuals due to negative working models of relationships, reduced closeness in intimate relationships and through decreased self-control. In terms of conscious motivations for sex, attachment anxiety is related to many attachment-related motivations including using sex for desire for emotional closeness, reassurance, self-esteem enhancement, stress reduction, the experience and exertion of power, elicitation of caregiving from a partner, protection from a partner's anger or bad moods. Those high in attachment avoidance report using sex for power or partner manipulation and endorse a desire to use sex as a way of avoiding emotional closeness. Accordingly, there is evidence that attachment avoidance is associated with positive attitudes towards casual sex, a higher number of casual sex partners, and an interest in emotionless sex and one-night stands.
=== Treatment adherence === Attachment insecurity also plays an important role in how people follow the advice of the healthcare community. Attachment avoidance has consistently been linked to poorer treatment adherence and more recently to no shows in scheduled follow up appointments. Attachment avoidance has also been linked to lower rates of cervical cancer screening in both American and Iranian populations.
=== Healthcare utilization === The attachment theory predicts that people high in attachment avoidance and people high in attachment anxiety would display different utilization of health care resources based on their prototypical behavioural responses when stressed. The theory predicts that people high in attachment avoidance, when faced with an illness, are likely to minimize their symptoms, and wait longer to see a health care provider, since they view their own distress as a sign of unacceptable vulnerability and also because their internal working model dictates that other people are not useful in helping them manage distress. For those high in attachment anxiety, they would have higher distress when faced with an illness, less perceived ability to manage it on their own, and thus visit health care services more frequently to try to attain security. For those with high anxiety and high avoidance, or fearful attachment, they would be predicted to present less frequently than those with secure attachment, but show up in a crisis when they do, which may interfere with optimal care. Research findings have generally been supportive of these predictions. One of the earliest studies in the field found correlations between preoccupied attachment and increased symptom reporting and an inverse relationship between avoidant attachment and visits to health professionals. High attachment anxiety has been associated with increased symptom reporting and visits to healthcare providers, and high attachment avoidance associated with less visits and decreased treatment compliance
== References ==