Research paperAttachment representations, patterns of emotion regulation, and social exclusion in patients with chronic and episodic depression and healthy controls

- 33% of the depressive individuals show disorganized (unresolved trauma) attachment.
- Emotionally altered reaction to Cyberball was shown in chronic depression.
- Depressive organized subjects use a constructive strategy to reorganize.
- Depressive disorganized subjects show indicators of emotion dysregulation.

BackgroundThe experience of social exclusion (ostracism) is linked to the etiology and maintenance of depression. Most individuals experience emotional stress in states of social exclusion. Insecurely attached individuals, especially with an unresolved trauma, show maladaptive coping in response to social stress. The present study examines (a) the differences with regards to attachment representations in episodic (ED) and chronic depressive (CD) inpatients and (b) how ostracism affects their emotional reactions.MethodsPatients with CD (n=29) and ED (n=23) and healthy control subjects (n=29) were interviewed using the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP), a valid measure to assess attachment representation; and played a virtual ball tossing game simulating social exclusion (Cyberball). Multiple depression-related risk and protective factors were considered. We hypothesized that CD patients show the most severe attachment disorganization and are emotionally most affected by the social exclusion situation. Moreover, we explored the interaction between ostracism and attachment.ResultsContradicting our hypotheses, ED and CD individuals were almost akin with regards to their attachment insecurity/disorganization and reactions to Cyberball. An emotionally altered reaction to social exclusion was identified in the insecure-disorganized depressive subgroup.LimitationsSmall sample size hampering further subgroup analyses. The ED sample may include single CD subjects with recent manifestation.ConclusionsThe pattern of emotion regulation in the depressive groups matches with findings from clinical studies, including attachment research. The relationship between attachment representations and ostracism should be further investigated in larger samples of depressive individuals.