Adult attachment and coping style in students with elevated mood

Background The psychological wellbeing of individuals may be disrupted through experiencing periods of elevated mood, known as mania. Identifying processes which may be used to predict the onset of mania may be helpful in the development of more specialised psychological interventions. The research explores the cognitive processes which may contribute to the development of elevated mood episodes.
Methods The research addresses this question through a review of the literature which is used to inform the current investigation. The study considers how coping style and attachment style may be used to predict the onset of elevated mood in undergraduate and postgraduate university students (n=100). Participants completed the Relationship Questionnaire (RQ; Bartholomew and Horowitz, 1991), the Brief COPE (Carver, 1997) and the Goldberg Mania Questionnaire (GMQ: Goldberg, 1993). Regression analyses were conducted to explore the data. The reflective paper highlights some of the methodological limitations, clinical implications and ethical considerations of the study.
Results The literature review revealed that cognitions such as positive rumination, specific beliefs about the self and a positive cognitive style were implicated in the development of manic experiences. The empirical study found that a preoccupied attachment style, and coping strategies of denial distraction and humour were significant predictors of elevated mood.
Discussion The clinical implications regarding how the results may inform clinical practice through psychological interventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy are discussed. Limitations included the cross sectional design methodology, the use of online questionnaires and difficulties in generalisation.
Conclusions Attachment style and coping strategies may be used to predict the onset of elevated moods. This may be useful for the development of new psychological interventions in mania. The thesis provides further clarification regarding psychological factors involved in the development of mania and identifies possible new areas for further exploration.