Citation

Gormley B, McNiel DE. Cognit. Ther. Res. 2010; 34(3): 272-281.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s10608-009-9267-5

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study applied adult attachment theory to better understand self-directed aggression, defined as suicide attempts and nonsuicidal self-injury, reported by 109 hospitalized psychiatric patients. As expected, patients with higher levels of adult attachment anxiety were more likely to report suicide attempts and self-injury. We tested depressive symptoms and anger as mediators of the relationship between attachment orientations and self-directed aggression. As hypothesized, depressive symptoms partially mediated the relationship between attachment anxiety and self-directed aggression, but unexpectedly, anger did not. The results support that levels of depression partially explain the associations between attachment anxiety and self-directed aggression. Subsidiary analyses suggested that patients with higher levels of adult attachment avoidance were more likely to report histories of nonsuicidal self-injury but not suicide attempts. Implications for research and practice are discussed. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.

Language: en

Keywords

adult; human; female; male; Attachment; depression; Suicide attempt; aggression; anger; Self-harm; Depressive symptoms; suicide attempt; Anger; article; major clinical study; controlled study; disease association; automutilation; avoidance behavior; mental patient; anamnesis; symptom; psychological theory; adult attachment orientation