[Attachment styles in German alcoholics with or without attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)].

INTRODUCTION

Attachment theory yields empirical constructs for development of human self, personality and cognition. Insecure attachment strategies were associated with various psychiatric disorders.

METHOD

We investigated distribution of attachment styles in 368 adult alcoholics of German descent with or without persistent symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and in 402 healthy individuals.

RESULT

Insecure attachment styles were significantly overrepresented compared to healthy controls. The subgroup of alcoholics with ADHD showed significantly more frequent enmeshed (74.1 %), the subgroup of alcoholics without persistent ADH-associated symptoms showed more frequent dismissing (35 %) attachment strategies.

CONCLUSION

In our sample, insecure attachment styles are associated with alcoholism. The subgroup of alcoholics with persistent ADHD shows a specific attachment behavior that could contribute to different therapy response or to early onset or severity of alcoholism.