One’s perceived relationship with God can be understood as an attachment or object relation, and this relationship can have clinical relevance, such as for depressive conditions. We investigated changes in attachment to God among participants in a 3-month inpatient psychodynamic therapy program. We then linked changes in the God relation to changes in depressive symptoms (N = 56). Attachment behavior to God generally increased in the treatment period and remained relatively stable with only slight decreases at the 1-year follow-up (FU). Higher initial levels of attachment behavior to God were linked to higher baseline levels of depressive symptoms. Additionally, increases in attachment behavior to God predicted increases in depressive symptoms during the first phase of therapy and then reductions in depressive symptoms during the last period of treatment—at the end of treatment, depression symptoms had decreased considerably from baseline. Our findings suggest that the God relation can be addressed in terms of existing theories about human relations and knowledge about therapeutic processes. The trained therapist can potentially offer individuals suffering from pathological conditions that incorporate patients’ representations of God.

The present questionnaire study examined attachment-religion connections among 175 believers within the Læstadian revival movement (Lutheran) in Sweden and Finland. Corroborating previous research findings from other religious populations, our findings strongly supported the idea that attachment security (i.e. positive, non-defensive representations of self and others) facilitates the intergenerational transmission of religion from parents to offspring (the socialized correspondence hypothesis) in families within the Læstadian revival movement. Extending previous research, attachment security was also linked to the adoption and transmission of the congregation’s religious standards and to perceived religious support from the congregation. Results pertaining to religion-as-compensation for attachment-related insecurity (the compensation hypothesis) were generally mixed, perhaps due to particularities of Læstadian faith.

Classic psychedelics have long been used in religious and healing rituals. A recent wave of scientific research has examined the acute effects of psychedelics, including how experiences with them are often described as spiritual, religious, or mystical. However, research has paid insufficient attention to the role of psychedelic experiences in the context of religious/spiritual development. In two studies, we examine religious and spiritual changes related to psychedelic use. In Study 1, using data from multiple birth cohort studies—the 1958 National Child Development Study and the 1970 British Cohort Study (for both, N > 11,000)—we examined the relationship between lifetime psychedelic use and religious affiliation, including religious changes (i.e., de/conversion or switching) and beliefs. In Study 2, we examined prospective changes in self-identification as religious and spiritual over a 2-month period among people who reported psychedelic use in a representative sample from the United Kingdom and the United States (N = 9,732). In Study 1, religious affiliation in childhood and adulthood were associated with reduced likelihood of psychedelic use. Also, lifetime psychedelic use was associated with greater likelihood of stable nonaffiliation with religion and with religious disaffiliation. lysergic acid diethylamide use predicted switching between religions as well. In Study 2, psychedelic use was not related to changes in religiosity or spirituality. Notably, psychedelics’ associations with religious changes did generally not differ from other illicit substances. We discuss our findings by highlighting the context-dependence of psychedelics and their effects and relating them to secularization-related trends.

Mary Main played a key role for this study, in which we used an idiographic approach to examine discourse about abuse, trauma, and maltreatment (ATM) among eight mothers with a mild intellectual disability (ID), whose children had been assigned a secure (the “B-group”) or disorganized (the “D-group”) attachment classification. Thematic analysis yielded six ATM discourse themes: openness; coherence; presence of trauma in consciousness; support; agency in response to crisis; and self-concept and caregiving self-efficacy. Mothers in the B-group provided coherent narratives, were open with the interviewer, had memories of seeking and receiving support, and reflected freely and autonomously on their experiences. Contrastingly, the mothers in the D-group expressed a guarded, closed-off stance towards ATM, difficulties seeking support, helplessness in response to crisis, and poor self-concept and -efficacy. Their adverse experiences were nonetheless highly present in consciousness, albeit in unintegrated forms. Our findings suggest that the D-group mothers may be unresolved with respect to loss/abuse

Concerns have been raised regarding misconceptions about attachment theory in child protection settings, but the application of attachment concepts in judicial child protection decisions has not been systematically explored. This study therefore examined the perception and application of attachment concepts in Swedish judicial decision protocols concerning involuntary removals of children (aged 0–2 years) where emotional neglect was a notable concern (n=28). Attachment concepts were frequently misunderstood, and imprecisely articulated. Unsystematic observations of child behavior were used to infer attachment insecurity and, by extrapolation, caregiving deficiencies. Attachment concepts were primarily used to support child removal, and insecure attachment seemed to be viewed as meeting the legally required level of risk to warrant involuntary child out–of–home placement. Our results indicate that misconceptions about attachment theory may be prevalent in judicial decision protocols. We emphasize the need to elaborate on risks in legally relevant ways without incorrect appeals to attachment theory.

Background and aims: Emerging research indicates that psychedelics may have therapeutic potential by fostering meaningful experiences that act as in fl ection points in people ' s narratives of personal development. However, psychedelic research has largely failed to address pertinent developmental considerations. We investigated whether attachment -related variables were associated with psychedelic experiences and whether psychedelic experiences moderated expected links between perceived attachment history and current adult attachment orientations. Methods: We administered an online survey to an international Jewish sample ( N = 185) with psychedelic experience. The survey included measures about recollection of attachment interactions with parents (perceived attachment history), adult attachment orientations (anxiety, avoidance), and psychedelic phenomenology (mystical experiences, challenging experiences, emotional breakthrough, ego dissolution, sensed presence) associated with respondents ' most memorable psychedelic experiences. Results: Perceptions of an insecure attachment history were positively linked to all measures of psychedelic phenomenology ( r ' s = 0.19 - 32, p ' s mostly < 0.01). In contrast, adult attachment orientations were unrelated to psychedelic phenomenology. Also, psychedelic phenomenology mostly did not moderate the links observed between perceptions of an insecure attachment history and adult attachment orientations. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that perceptions of early attachment experiences may be relevant to psychedelic phenomenology. However, subjective experiences associated with naturalistic psychedelic use do not typically attenuate links between a perceived insecure attachment history and attachment insecurity at present.

Research has suggested highly elevated levels of interpersonal trauma (IPT) among parents with intellectual disabilities (ID), and that such experiences may contribute to the caregiving and child developmental problems often seen in this population. Conflicting results have however been reported, and there is no systematic review on this matter. This study therefore systematically reviewed the empirical evidence concerning (a) prevalence of IPT among parents with ID, and links with (b) caregiving-relevant and (c) child developmental outcomes, in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and PTSDpubs. Peer-reviewed empirical articles reporting exposure to any form of systematically assessed IPT (unspecified IPT, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, neglect, prolonged childhood separations from caregivers, witnessing abuse in the family) among parents with ID were included, yielding a final selection of 20 studies. Findings consistently indicated markedly elevated levels of IPT among parents with ID, with a majority (>50%) having experienced some form of IPT. Estimates for both unspecified and specific forms were typically higher than corresponding estimates in other groups at elevated risk, and than meta-analytical general population estimates in comparable countries. Findings regarding caregiving-relevant outcomes were mixed but indicated links with adverse outcomes, particularly regarding parental mental health. Reports pertaining to child developmental outcomes were scant and inconsistent. We highlight important limitations in the extant literature and provide directions for future research and clinical practice. 

Background: Parental mentalising difficulties are robustly linked to caregiving problems. Mothers with intellectual disability are at risk for caregiving problems, but knowledge on their parental mentalising abilities is lacking. The present study aimed to fill this gap.

Method: Thirty mothers with mild intellectual disability, and 61 comparison mothers with ADHD, were assessed for parental mentalising using the Parental Reflective Functioning Questionnaire. Contributions of intellectual disability, maternal exposure to childhood abuse/neglect and psychosocial risk to parental mentalising were examined through hierarchical regression analysis.

Results: Mothers with intellectual disability had a heightened risk for parental mentalising difficulties, in the form of elevated prementalising. Intellectual disability and cumulative childhood abuse/neglect uniquely predicted prementalising among the mothers, whereas cumulative psychosocial risk added to the risk for prementalising specifically among mothers with intellectual disability.

Conclusions: Our findings support contextual models of caregiving, and suggest a need for mentalisation-based support for parents with mild intellectual disability.

In this paper, we set an agenda for a psychedelic science of spirituality and religion based on attachment theory. Attachment theory proposes that people develop internal working models (IWMs) of interactions with others from their relational experiences with caregivers. Such IWMs then function as high-level priors or predictive models, enabling people, for better and for worse, to predict and organize their interpersonal and religious/spiritual relationships. One mechanism by which efficacious psychedelic interventions may work is by relaxing the grip of rigid, defensive priors (e.g. insecure IWMs with regard to others and God), further amplified by corrective relational experiences with the therapist, God, or others. We outline three key proposals to steer future research. First, individual differences in attachment security predict the phenomenology and integration of psychedelic experiences. Second, efficacious psychedelic therapy facilitates increased attachment security as a clinically relevant outcome. Third, attachment-related dynamics (e.g. a sense of connection to others/God/the universe, alleviation of attachment-related worries and defenses) are process-level mechanisms involved in the clinical utility of psychedelic treatment. Finally, we discuss the role of religion and spirituality in psychedelic experiences from an attachment perspective.