Reliability of self-reported attachment style in patients with severe psychopathology

Little is known about whether severe psychopathology influences the assessment of self-reported attachment style. Fifty-eight randomly selected adult psychiatric inpatients completed the Experiences in Close Relationship questionnaire (ECR; Brennan, Clark, & Shaver, 1998) and were administered the 24-item Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS; Ventura et al., 1993) and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS; Hamilton, 1960) at both admission and discharge. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID-I; First, Spitzer, Gibbon, & Williams, 1996) was used to establish Axis I diagnoses. The ECR scales showed good internal consistency and absolute stability both in patients with (n = 24) and without (n = 34) a psychotic disorder. Relative stability was only fair among patients with psychotic disorders but good among patients without psychotic disorders. Neither higher BPRS or HDRS scores, nor the presence of a psychotic disorder, significantly reduced the retest reliability of the ECR scales. These findings suggest that self-report measures might provide a reliable assessment of attachment style in patients with severe psychopathology, except for the most severely impaired patients.     

Rorty,Sorge and Truth

Rorty's assessment of the origins of the analytic/continental divide is discussed and criticized on several grounds. Rorty's plea in favour of the philosophical quietism implicit in the pragmatists' dismissal of metaphysics rests on an uncritical faith in scientific progress. To emphasize the tensions implicit in the ideal of progress a novel interpretation of the significance of Faust's encounter with Sorge (Care) is offered and compared with Heidegger's construal of Sorge in Sein und Zeit . A better understanding of the analytic/continental divide is gained if we concentrate on the impact of Nazism and Fascism on the philosophical tradition with which philosophers living on the Continent had to come to terms after the Second World War. In this respect Adorno's attitude to progress in general and to philosophy in particular is very instructive and can be usefully contrasted with Rorty's dismissal of metaphysics.     

Exploring how the psychiatrist experiences the patient during the diagnostic evaluation: the Assessment of Clinician’s Subjective Experience (ACSE)

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences -     

A twin study of attachment style in young adults

The relative contribution of genetic and environmental influences to individual differences in attachment security is still incompletely understood. We assessed attachment style with the Experiences in Close Relationships questionnaire in a volunteer sample of 677 twins (43% male) ages 23-24 years drawn from the population-based Italian Twin Register, who belonged to 244 complete pairs (46% monozygotic) and 189 unmatched pairs. Genetic structural equation modeling was performed with the Mx program. Genetic effects accounted for 45% and 36% of individual differences in attachment-related anxiety and avoidance, respectively. Furthermore, the covariation between anxiety and avoidance was found to be mainly due to genetic factors, with heritability of the latent attachment security phenotype estimated at 62%. Unshared environmental factors explained the remaining proportion of variance. Although our findings are best regarded as preliminary given some study limitations, they suggest that both nature and nurture contribute to individual differences in adult attachment.