Does disorganised attachment lead to auditory hallucinations via dissociation?: an experimental study with an analogue sample
Does disorganised attachment lead to auditory hallucinations via dissociation?: an experimental study with an analogue sample
Objectives: auditory hallucinations (such as hearing voices) are common in clinical and non-clinical populations. Many people who hear voices also report early adversity and have an insecure attachment style. Current cognitive models suggest that dissociation mediates an association between disorganised attachment and auditory hallucinations, but this has not been tested experimentally.
Design: we recruited a non-clinical analogue sample highly predisposed to auditory hallucinations and utilised an experimental design to examine the impact of disorganised attachment imagery on hallucinatory experiences, and whether dissociation mediates an expected association.
Methods: participants completed self-report measures of state auditory hallucinations and dissociation before and after random allocation to secure or disorganised attachment conditions.
Results: attachment imagery did not affect auditory hallucinations. Both secure and disorganised attachment conditions increased state dissociation. Secure attachment imagery reduced paranoia, but state dissociation did not mediate this effect. An exploratory analysis found that trait dissociation fully accounted for the association between trait-disorganised attachment and hallucinatory experience while controlling for paranoia.
Conclusions: secure attachment imagery reduces paranoia but not auditory hallucinations and the impact on paranoia is not mediated by dissociation. Secure attachment imagery may be useful in reducing fears and distress associated with voices, rather than the frequency or severity of hallucinations. Disorganised attachment may increase hallucinatory experiences for people vulnerable to dissociation. Trait dissociation should be assessed in clinical settings and addressed where indicated as a means of targeting vulnerability to distressing voices.
auditory hallucinations, disorganised attachment, dissociation, imagery, paranoia, priming, voice hearing
868-884
Puckett, Joseph Francis
e91599d3-266e-4263-bb67-b977e06cccd8
Sood, Monica
185fb97e-a111-45e1-bbe8-d865d301ef9f
Newman-Taylor, Katherine
e090b9da-6ede-45d5-8a56-2e86c2dafef7
December 2023
Puckett, Joseph Francis
e91599d3-266e-4263-bb67-b977e06cccd8
Sood, Monica
185fb97e-a111-45e1-bbe8-d865d301ef9f
Newman-Taylor, Katherine
e090b9da-6ede-45d5-8a56-2e86c2dafef7
Puckett, Joseph Francis, Sood, Monica and Newman-Taylor, Katherine
(2023)
Does disorganised attachment lead to auditory hallucinations via dissociation?: an experimental study with an analogue sample.
Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 96 (4), .
(doi:10.1111/papt.12477).
Abstract
Objectives: auditory hallucinations (such as hearing voices) are common in clinical and non-clinical populations. Many people who hear voices also report early adversity and have an insecure attachment style. Current cognitive models suggest that dissociation mediates an association between disorganised attachment and auditory hallucinations, but this has not been tested experimentally.
Design: we recruited a non-clinical analogue sample highly predisposed to auditory hallucinations and utilised an experimental design to examine the impact of disorganised attachment imagery on hallucinatory experiences, and whether dissociation mediates an expected association.
Methods: participants completed self-report measures of state auditory hallucinations and dissociation before and after random allocation to secure or disorganised attachment conditions.
Results: attachment imagery did not affect auditory hallucinations. Both secure and disorganised attachment conditions increased state dissociation. Secure attachment imagery reduced paranoia, but state dissociation did not mediate this effect. An exploratory analysis found that trait dissociation fully accounted for the association between trait-disorganised attachment and hallucinatory experience while controlling for paranoia.
Conclusions: secure attachment imagery reduces paranoia but not auditory hallucinations and the impact on paranoia is not mediated by dissociation. Secure attachment imagery may be useful in reducing fears and distress associated with voices, rather than the frequency or severity of hallucinations. Disorganised attachment may increase hallucinatory experiences for people vulnerable to dissociation. Trait dissociation should be assessed in clinical settings and addressed where indicated as a means of targeting vulnerability to distressing voices.
Text
Puckett, Sood, & Newman-Taylor (2023) - Does disorganised attachment lead to auditory hallucinations via dissociation
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 15 May 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 7 June 2023
Published date: December 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank all who took part in this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2023 The Authors. Psychology and Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of The British Psychological Society.
Keywords:
auditory hallucinations, disorganised attachment, dissociation, imagery, paranoia, priming, voice hearing
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 477814
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/477814
ISSN: 1476-0835
PURE UUID: 94fc19ea-3aa8-4730-bf6e-7dbd03613b9f
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Date deposited: 15 Jun 2023 16:31
Last modified: 27 Apr 2024 02:22
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Author:
Joseph Francis Puckett
Author:
Monica Sood
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