title: Attachment organization in Arabic-speaking refugees with post traumatic stress disorder.
abstract: As a part of an ongoing clinical study of refugees with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the primary objective of the current study was to examine and describe the distribution of adult attachment patterns as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) in Arabic-speaking refugees. A total of 43 adult male and female refugees with Iraqi and Palestinian backgrounds completed the AAI. Sixty-seven percent of the sample was classified as Unresolved with respect to loss or trauma and a substantial proportion of insecure attachment representations (14% Secure-Autonomous, 39% Dismissing, 42% Preoccupied, 5% Cannot Classify) was found, in addition to high intake levels of post traumatic stress symptoms and comorbidity. Findings are compared with AAI studies of other PTSD or trauma samples, and the paper elaborates upon the methodological challenges in administering the AAI in a context of simultaneous translation.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychology , University of Copenhagen , Copenhagen , Denmark.|b Competence Center for Transcultural Psychiatry , Copenhagen , Denmark.
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Riber
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018912:Arabs / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009769:Object Attachment; D010552:Personality Assessment; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012036:Refugees / Q000523:psychology*; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000208:ethnology / Q000523:psychology*; D014857:Warfare; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: AAI; Adult attachment patterns; complex refugee trauma; post traumatic stress disorder; unresolved trauma