In a recent, to date unpublished study, our working group found that patients with insecure attachment styles gained less from multidisciplinary pain treatment in a 6 months follow-up than securely attached patients. This means that patients with insecure attachment patterns are not able to maintain the positive short-term results of multimodal pain therapy. This finding is especially relevant given that insecure attachment styles are overrepresented in patients suffering from chronic pain Davies et al.
Attachment insecurity also negatively influences the working alliance with health-care professionals Bernecker et al. To date, the knowledge about attachment concepts has not been used to improve pain treatment outcomes with the help of a differential approach based on individual attachment styles.
Therefore, we will compare the short- and long-term treatment outcomes for pain patients who will receive multidisciplinary, attachment-specific treatment with the outcomes for patients in a control group who will receive the multidisciplinary state-of-the-art treatment.
Background The concept of attachment is relevant for the onset and development of chronic pain. Insecure attachment styles negatively affect therapeutic outcome. Insecurely attached patients seem to be less able to sustain positive effects of a multimodal treatment program.
However, it has never been tested before if an attachment-oriented approach can improve treatment results of insecurely attached patients in a multimodal outpatient setting. To test this assumption, we compare the short- and long-term outcomes for pain patients who will receive multidisciplinary, attachment-oriented treatment with the outcomes for patients in a control group, who will receive the multidisciplinary state-of-the-art treatment.
