Abstract

Nowadays researches on attachment and addiction disorders have shown a quite inconsistent picture of outcomes. In particular, a shared finding is that insecurity constitutes the most representative attachment pattern, but agreement on the quality of insecurity is far from conclusive. Aim of the present study is to test - on a large sample - the quality of attachment in a clinical group of subjects with Substance Dependence. 45 clinical subjects were recruited from mental health facilities and compared with 45 control subjects matched by gender and balanced by age. The Adult Attachment Interview was used to assess the general attachment classification on the whole sample and to inquire the specific constellation of both subjective experience scales and mental states scales of the interview coding system. Findings obtained revealed an overrepresentation of insecure patterns, with a prevalence of dismissing patterns. Specific subjective experience and mental states scales were also identified as significantly differing in the two groups. Implications for developmental and clinical research are discussed.