The persistence of attachment: Complicated grief, threat, and reaction times to the deceasedʹs name

Background cated grief is increasingly recognized as a debilitating disorder with significant mental and health consequences. The underlying mechanisms of complicated grief remain unclear, however. In the present study, we investigated a specific mechanism of complicated grief (CG) derived from attachment theory: the accessibility of the deceasedʹs mental representation under threat. s atched comparison of complicated (n = 26) and asymptomatic grievers (n = 30), we used an emotional Stroop task following subliminal threat or neutral primes to examine the accessibility of mental representations of the deceased, current attachment figures, and close others. s cated grievers did not evidence differential accessibility to the deceasedʹs mental representation across priming conditions, whereas asymptomatic grievers showed reduced accessibility (deactivation) of the deceasedʹs mental representation specifically in the threat prime condition. These effects were independent of depressive symptoms. Across grievers, attachment anxiety and avoidance uniquely predicted accessibility of the deceasedʹs name in the threat condition. tions mitations of this study are its small sample size and reliance on analog attachment threats. sions data support that accessibility of the deceasedʹs mental representation in threatening contexts is an important component of complicated and asymptomatic grieving and that attachment insecurity contributes to a maladaptive reliance on the deceased as an attachment figure.