Distress and post‐traumatic stress disorders in high risk professionals: adult attachment style and the dimensions of anxiety and avoidance

This study examines the relationship between adult attachment and psychological distress in a population of 544 people working for a security company and for the Belgian Red Cross. The results indicate that fearful–avoidant and preoccupied attached individuals report more stress than secure attached and insecure attached individuals of the dismissive type. Next, the same attachment styles appear to differentiate between individuals who do and individuals who do not develop a post‐traumatic stress syndrome (PTSD) after being confronted with a critical incident. Breaking the attachment styles into the two underlying dimensions of attachment anxiety and avoidance, our results suggest that anxiety is more of an issue than avoidance in psychological distress and the occurrence of PTSD. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.