Moving beyond power and control: A qualitative analysis of adult attachment and intimate partner violence

Adult attachment is an influential factor in the experience of abuse in intimate relationships. This qualitative project studied the link between attachment organization and intimate partner violence. Nine women staying in or seeking counseling from domestic violence shelters participated. Participants' attachment classification was assessed using the Adult Attachment Projective Picture System (George, West & Pettem, 1997). Their adult attachment classification was determined based on their mental representations of attachment and defensive operations observed in their responses (George & West, in press, b). In addition, information regarding survivors' childhood and adulthood relationship experiences, including experiences of partner violence, was gathered through in-depth interviews.;As anticipated, this study found a strong link between experience of abuse in intimate relationships and adult attachment organization. All survivors were classified as having an insecure attachment; two-thirds were classified as preoccupied, one-third as dismissing. Most notably, seven of the nine survivors were also judged to be unresolved. When attachment distress increases, unresolved survivors become overwhelmed with previous experiences of trauma and loss, and most are not able to draw upon internal resources to reorganize themselves.;All of the women in this study endured various forms of abuse within intimate relationships, and eight survivors first experienced abuse and neglect as children. For most of these women, attachment figures were either absent, detached, or failed to protect them from hurt, loss, and trauma beginning very early in life. Their intimate relationships, like their AAPPS stories, reflect unstable representations of self and others, compromised sense of boundaries between self and others, a lack of internalization of attachment figures and attachment experiences, ambivalent desire for intimate relationships, impaired capacity to have mutually engaging partnerships with others, and inadequate methods of defending against attachment distress.;Results demonstrate how attachment develops and can be hindered or supported through relationships with early attachment figures. Survivors who have witnessed and/or experienced abuse beginning early in life appear to have greater difficulty organizing their attachment experiences as adults. The present research demonstrates the importance of therapists and shelter staff considering attachment organization when working with survivors of IPV.