Attachment styles, coping with stress, and social support among cancer patients

This paper presents the role of attachment style in determining an individual's way of coping with stress, which in turn helps to understand the differences in response and adjustment to cancer among cancer patients. Cancer is an illness that causes overwhelming distress, and dealing with it requires social support, among other coping strategies.

Studies show that social support is associated with a decrease in psychological symptoms and a better quality of life in cancer patients. According to attachment theory, one's perception of threat, way of signaling distress, and strategies of coping with it, with special consideration for the ability to use a partner's support, relies on differences in avoidance and anxiety (attachment style dimensions).

People with high avoidance (associated with deactivating attachment strategy) tend not to seek support from others and rely on themselves.

People with high anxiety (associated with deactivating attachment strategy) tend to display strong emotional responses, permanently seek attention and support from others, and yet are less able to feel comforted by them.