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The present questionnaire study examined attachment-religion connections among 175 believers within the Læstadian revival movement (Lutheran) in Sweden and Finland. Corroborating previous research findings from other religious populations, our findings strongly supported the idea that attachment security (i.e. positive, non-defensive representations of self and others) facilitates the intergenerational transmission of religion from parents to offspring (the socialized correspondence hypothesis) in families within the Læstadian revival movement. Extending previous research, attachment security was also linked to the adoption and transmission of the congregation’s religious standards and to perceived religious support from the congregation. Results pertaining to religion-as-compensation for attachment-related insecurity (the compensation hypothesis) were generally mixed, perhaps due to particularities of Læstadian faith.

In this paper, we set an agenda for a psychedelic science of spirituality and religion based on attachment theory. Attachment theory proposes that people develop internal working models (IWMs) of interactions with others from their relational experiences with caregivers. Such IWMs then function as high-level priors or predictive models, enabling people, for better and for worse, to predict and organize their interpersonal and religious/spiritual relationships. One mechanism by which efficacious psychedelic interventions may work is by relaxing the grip of rigid, defensive priors (e.g. insecure IWMs with regard to others and God), further amplified by corrective relational experiences with the therapist, God, or others. We outline three key proposals to steer future research. First, individual differences in attachment security predict the phenomenology and integration of psychedelic experiences. Second, efficacious psychedelic therapy facilitates increased attachment security as a clinically relevant outcome. Third, attachment-related dynamics (e.g. a sense of connection to others/God/the universe, alleviation of attachment-related worries and defenses) are process-level mechanisms involved in the clinical utility of psychedelic treatment. Finally, we discuss the role of religion and spirituality in psychedelic experiences from an attachment perspective., Cherniak’s work was supported by a 2021 SRF Source Award from the Source Research Foundation.

Research has suggested highly elevated levels of interpersonal trauma (IPT) among parents with intellectual disabilities (ID), and that such experiences may contribute to the caregiving and child developmental problems often seen in this population. Conflicting results have however been reported, and there is no systematic review on this matter. This study therefore systematically reviewed the empirical evidence concerning (a) prevalence of IPT among parents with ID, and links with (b) caregiving-relevant and (c) child developmental outcomes, in accordance with the PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Searches were conducted in MEDLINE, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and PTSDpubs. Peer-reviewed empirical articles reporting exposure to any form of systematically assessed IPT (unspecified IPT, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, neglect, prolonged childhood separations from caregivers, witnessing abuse in the family) among parents with ID were included, yielding a final selection of 20 studies. Findings consistently indicated markedly elevated levels of IPT among parents with ID, with a majority (>50%) having experienced some form of IPT. Estimates for both unspecified and specific forms were typically higher than corresponding estimates in other groups at elevated risk, and than meta-analytical general population estimates in comparable countries. Findings regarding caregiving-relevant outcomes were mixed but indicated links with adverse outcomes, particularly regarding parental mental health. Reports pertaining to child developmental outcomes were scant and inconsistent. We highlight important limitations in the extant literature and provide directions for future research and clinical practice., This research was supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council (Grant 2017-03315) and the Swedish research Council for Health, Working Life, and Welfare (Grant 2017-01182) awarded to Pehr Granqvist and Tommie Forslund.

För miljarder människor är andliga erfarenheter den främsta källan till mening, tröst och trygghet. Trots att det finns många exempel på hur olika trosuppfattningar uttrycks på otrygga sätt och sår split mellan människor skänker de också gemenskap, socialt stöd och en fördjupad livskänsla. I Tryggare kan ingen vara? kartlägger religionspsykologen Pehr Granqvist sambanden mellan vårt behov av trygghet, anknytning och andlig törst. Genom att applicera anknytningsteorin på religion visar Granqvist hur religiositet och andlighet kan vara viktiga ingredienser till att uppleva trygghet. Han ger också tankeväckande exempel på hur olika samhällsinstitutioner tenderar att ersätta religiöst liv i moderna samhällen. Dessutom ger boken en första inblick i hur man kan förstå psykedelisk terapi utifrån kopplingen mellan anknytning, religion och andlighet.

In this conceptual paper, we suggest that attachment theory is a viable framework for understanding key aspects of embodied religious and spiritual cognition, as seen in religious and spiritual metaphors, rituals, anthropomorphisms, and more. We also discuss embodied cognition as part of mystical experiences and other altered states of consciousness that may occur both within and outside of religious contexts. Therefore, religiospiritual cognition is introduced as an alternative term to religious cognition. We review the basic tenets of attachment theory and conceptually link embodied religiospiritual cognition to attachment-related processes. Finally, we conclude with directions for future research on embodied religiospiritual cognition from an attachment viewpoint. The field of psychedelic science may be especially promising for examining links between attachment and embodied religiospiritual cognition.