ABSTRACT
Finally, it is well known that attachment plays a major role in affect regulation, interpersonal functioning, and the structural development of the hippocampus during the first three years of life (Allen, 2001; Mikulincer & Shaver, 2007); that early attachment relationships are associated with adult attachment styles and relational patterns (Cassidy & Shaver, 2008); and that interpersonal relationships and subjective experiences affect memories, emotion, and self-regulation throughout life (Siegel, 2007, 2012). Difficulties with emotion regulation also are associated with substance abuse (Dozier, Stovall-McClough, & Albus, 2008), and Flores (2004) has called addiction an attachment disorder. Similarly, in AA, it is said that alcoholism is a disease of isolation. Although no known studies have evaluated a specific attachment-based treatment model for SUD treatment, several findings about attachment-informed treatment are relevant to this discussion (Slade, 2008).
