Validating an attachment-based model of change in personality disorder
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Validation of an attachment-based model of therapeutic change in the treatment of personality disorder using pattern matching.
IRAS ID
157843
Contact name
Phil Willmot
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
Research summary
This study addresses the question ‘how do people with a diagnosis of personality disorder in a forensic inpatient setting recover?’ A previous study by the researchers identified a number of factors, the most important of which was the service user’s relationship with their therapist, particularly in the early stages of treatment.
Based on these findings, the researchers suggested a model of change based on attachment theory. Attachment theory was originally applied to child development and proposes that infants learn how to regulate their emotions, understand and interact with other people and make sense of the world around them through their relationship with caregivers. However, attachment theory has also been applied to adults, and particularly those with a diagnosis of personality disorder, many of whose early relationships with caregivers were marked by trauma, abuse or neglect. An attachment-based approach to the treatment of people with a diagnosis of personality involves a secure relationship between therapist and service user, that allows the service user to do what they should have been able to do in infancy; learn to regulate their emotions, understand and interact appropriately with others and make better sense of the world.
This study will test this model using a qualitative approach. It will be conducted in an inpatient personality disorder service and involve the chief investigator interviewing service users taking about their experiences of treatment, and relationships with people involved in their treatment. Any service user who has experienced therapeutic change, and who has not been involved in an earlier study by the researchers on which this model is based, is eligible. The researchers have made a number of predictions about what service users would say if the attachment model were correct and these predictions will be tested under rigorous conditions.
REC name
East Midlands - Nottingham 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/1062
Date of REC Opinion
18 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion