ArticleThe American journal on addictions2025
Adverse childhood experiences, insecure attachment, and appointment compliance in an outpatient addiction psychiatry treatment population.
Article in The American journal on addictions, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Predictors of Engagement in a Multicomponent Community-Based Intervention Alongside Drug Treatment Court for People with Co-Occurring Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders and Criminal-Legal Involvement.Community mental health journal · 2026Article
- The unique contributions of adverse childhood experiences to increases in post-traumatic stress symptoms and problematic substance use after trauma exposure.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Adverse childhood experiences, insecure attachment, and appointment compliance in an outpatient addiction psychiatry treatment population.The American journal on addictions · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectivesSuffering adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increases the probability of developing adult mental illness, addictions, and insecure attachment. This study determined how ACEs and insecure attachment are associated with each other, and how they may predict treatment engagement in an integrated dual diagnosis treatment clinic.
methodsA sample of n = 264 patients entering a university-affiliated addiction psychiatry clinic underwent diagnostic intakes supplemented by assessments of attachment styles (Anxious/Avoidant, using the 36-item Experiences in Close Relationships-Relationship Structures (ECR-RS) scale) and childhood adversity (10-item Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE-Q) scale). Compliance with psychotherapy versus medication appointments was tracked for 6 months post intake.
resultsACE-Q scores (median of 4) were significantly associated with higher anxious and avoidant attachment scores and the number of mental health diagnoses. Only one in five patients obtained 75% or higher compliance rates with psychotherapy; two in five achieved 75% or higher compliance with medication appointments. Greater anxious attachment predicted lower show rates for both psychotherapy and medication appointments, whereas greater avoidant attachment predicted lower compliance for psychotherapy only. DISCUSSION AND
conclusionsThis study confirms the linkage of ACEs and insecure attachment patterns in dual-diagnosis patients seeking integrated addiction psychiatry care. Insecure attachment patterns differentially predicted lower appointment compliance, particularly for psychotherapies. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: Childhood trauma and associated adult attachment dysfunction warrant further investigation not only as causes and correlates of mental illness and addiction but also for improving treatment engagement, therapeutic attachments, and recovery outcomes.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.