Attachment and psychosomatic health among Catholic pastoral professionals (Article)
a Hochschule Für Philosophie, Kaulbachstraße 22a, München, Germany
b Klinik und Poliklinik Für Palliativmedizin, Universitätsklinikum der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
c Klinik und Poliklinik Für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, Forschungsstelle Spiritual Care, Klinikum Rechts der Isar der Technischen Universität München, Germany
b Klinik und Poliklinik Für Palliativmedizin, Universitätsklinikum der Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany
c Klinik und Poliklinik Für Psychosomatische Medizin und Psychotherapie, Forschungsstelle Spiritual Care, Klinikum Rechts der Isar der Technischen Universität München, Germany
Abstract
Objectives: The study examines attachment representations and psychosomatic symptoms of Catholic priests and other pastoral professionals in Germany. Method:We conducted structured biographical interviewswith 83Catholic pastoralprofessionals (47 priests, 36 lay pastoral workers). Attachment representations were diagnosed by use of the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (AAP). Psychosomatic health data (Brief Symptom Inventory - BSI-18) were taken from the associated German PastoralMinistry Study. Results: In the sample, the proportion of secure attachment representations was 23%, of insecure- dismissing 39%, of insecure-preoccupied 18% and of unresolved attachment status 21%. Individuals with secure attachment representation were associated with lower values of psychosomatic stress, while individuals with insecure-dismissing and unresolved attachment status had higher values. Discussion: The amount of insecure attachment representations and psychosomatic symptoms is higher than in data from the healthy samples, especially in the cohorts between 1933 and 1945. Data from biographical interviews indicate the significant role of institutional attachment to the Church, in many cases possibly compensating for dysfunctional parental relationships in personal history. © 2015 Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht GmbH & Co. KG, Göttingen.
Author keywords
Attachment; Attachment Representations; Attachment Theory; Catholic Church; Pastoral Workers; Priests; Psychosomatic Symptoms; Psychosomatics; War Children
Indexed keywords
EMTREE medical terms: adult; Brief Symptom Inventory; Catholic; clergy; diagnosis; human; human experiment; interview; religion; stress; symptom; worker
ISSN: 14383608 CODEN: ZPPSBSource Type: Journal Original language: German
Document Type: Article
Publisher: Vandenhoeck and Ruprecht GmbH and Co. KG
