title: Adult Attachment Interview differentiates adolescents with Childhood Sexual Abuse from those with clinical depression and non-clinical controls.
abstract: Although attachment representation is considered to be disturbed in traumatized adolescents, it is not known whether this is specific for trauma, as comparative studies with other clinical groups are lacking. Therefore, attachment representation was studied by means of the Adult Attachment Interview in adolescents with Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) (N = 21), clinical depression (N = 28) and non-clinical controls (N = 28). Coherence of mind and unresolved loss or trauma, as well as the disorganized attachment classification differentiated the CSA group from the clinical depression group and controls, over and above age, IQ, and psychiatric symptomatology. In the current era of sustained criticism on criteria-based classification, this may well carry substantial clinical relevance. If attachment is a general risk or vulnerability factor underlying specific psychopathology, this may guide diagnostic assessment as well as treatment.
authors.affiliation: a Psychotraumacenter and Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , GGZ Kinderen en Jeugd Rivierduinen , Leiden , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Marie-José
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: van Hoof
authors.forename: Natasja D J
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: van Lang
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Speekenbrink
authors.forename: Marinus H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: van IJzendoorn
authors.forename: Robert R J M
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Vermeiren
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D002648:Child; D002650:Child Abuse, Sexual / Q000523:psychology*; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009769:Object Attachment; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Childhood Sexual Abuse; attachment representation; clinical depression; coherence of mind; dissociation; unresolved loss or trauma