ABSTRACT
Attachments promote health and emotional well-being and may be critical in protection against depression. Interest in attachment has included study of neuroendocrine mechanisms that regulate bond formation, including an emphasis on the neuropeptides oxytocin and arginine vasopressin. Disruption of established attachments and the inability to appropriately form or maintain these relationships are key components of many psychiatric disorders, several of which also include dysfunction of the oxytocin system. Here we review different attachment relationships and the role oxytocin plays in their formation. We then explore the hypothesis that disrupted attachments and oxytocin functioning may contribute to the vulnerability to depressive disorders.
