PubMed Health⌕ Search
Home/Archive/PubMed

PubMed · 8912942

Affect, attachment, memory: contributions toward psychobiologic integration.

F Amini·T Lewis·R Lannon·A Louie·G Baumbacher·T McGuinness·E Z Schiff
View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Recent decades have seen a marked expansion in knowledge regarding human neurophysiology, and psychiatry is currently challenged with the task of integrating this information with a psychodynamic understanding of emotional life. In this paper we review portions of the relevant literature regarding the basic brain functions of affect, memory, and attachment, and we consider the implications of these data for integrated psychobiologic conceptualizations of emotional dysfunction and its treatment. In particular, data from these three areas of study point to the possibility that implicit memory of the early attachment relationship, communicated via the language of affect, is an enduring neural structure that influences both emotional self-regulation and behavior related to relatedness. Finally, we consider the implications of this proposition for the nature of psychotherapy, which from a psychobiologic view might be profitably conceptualized as a directed attachment relationship whose purpose is the revision of the implicit emotional memory of attachment.

Explore related subjects

AffectAnimalsHumansMemoryMental DisordersNeuropsychologyObject AttachmentPsychological TheoryPsychotherapyJournal ArticleReview

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeXRIS

F Amini, T Lewis, R Lannon, A Louie, G Baumbacher, T McGuinness, E Z Schiff. 1996. Affect, attachment, memory: contributions toward psychobiologic integration.. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8912942/

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related citations

PubMed1999

Optimism and rehospitalization after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether optimism predicts lower rates of rehospitalization after coronary artery bypass graft surgery for the 6 months after surgery. METHODS: A prospective, inception cohort design was used. The sample consisted of all consenting patients (N=309) from a consecutive series of patients scheduled for elective coronary artery bypass graft surgery at a large, metropolitan hospital in Pittsburgh, Pa. To be eligible, patients could not be scheduled for any other coincidental surgery (eg, valve replacement) and could not be in the cardiac intensive care unit or experiencing angina at the time of the referral. Participants were predominantly men (69.9%) and married (80.3%), and averaged 62.8 years of age. Recruitment occurred between January 1992 and January 1994. RESULTS: Compared with pessimistic persons, optimistic persons were significantly less likely to be rehospitalized for a broad range of aggregated problems (including postsurgical sternal wound infection, angina, myocardial infarction, and the need for another bypass surgery or percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty) generally indicative of a poor response to the initial surgery (odds ratio=0.50, 95% confidence interval=0.33- 0.76; P=.001). The effect of optimism was independent of traditional sociodemographic and medical control variables, as well as independent of the effects of self-esteem, depression, and neuroticism. All-cause rehospitalization also tended to be less frequent for optimistic than for pessimistic persons (odds ratio=0.77, 95% confidence interval=0.57-1.05; P=.07). CONCLUSIONS: Optimism predicts a lower rate of rehospitalization after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Fostering positive expectations may promote better recovery.

Affect↗
PubMed1999

Effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation on memory and behavior in Alzheimer's disease may be stage-dependent.

BACKGROUND: In previous studies, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) was shown to result in improvements in nonverbal short-term and long-term memory, verbal long-term memory, and verbal fluency in patients in an early stage of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In addition, the patients' physical, social, and affective functioning improved. As AD is a progressive disease, it was examined in the present study whether TENS would still be effective in the midstage of AD. METHODS: Sixteen subjects (70-91 years old) met the NINCDS-ADRDA criteria for probable AD, as well as the criteria for stage 6 of the Global Deterioration Scale (midstage AD). To evaluate treatment effects, the subjects underwent a number of neuropsychological tests and two observation scales. RESULTS: Compared to TENS in an early stage, TENS in the midstage of AD appears to yield less beneficial effects, i.e., as for cognition only nonverbal short-term memory improved. No treatment effects were observed for the patients' physical, social, and affective functioning. CONCLUSIONS: In view of the small number of patients, the clinical relevance of TENS in patients in a midstage of AD remains to be confirmed in a larger group, after which more definite conclusions about the stage-dependency of TENS in AD can be drawn.

Affect↗