The role of attachment, coping style and reasons for substance use in substance users with psychosis

Seventy substance users with psychosis who were participating in a clinical trial of a psychological therapy for psychosis were additionally assessed for attachment, coping styles and self-reported reasons for substance use in order to test a hypothesised sequential mediation model. In this model the relationship between insecure attachment and problematic substance use was assumed to be sequentially mediated by dysfunctional coping and the use of substances to cope with distress. Hypothesised associations between insecure-avoidant attachment and substance use were not supported but the relationship between insecure-anxious attachment and problematic substance use was confirmed and found to be fully mediated by dysfunctional coping and coping reasons for use. Findings suggest that fostering secure attachments in people with psychosis might promote more successful coping and could prevent or reduce substance use related problems in this group.