Relieve or aggravate? Impact of interpersonal and place attachment security priming on intrusive symptoms

Attachment security has the potential to be a protective factor against intrusive symptoms. However, its impact on intrusive symptoms across different types of trauma is not well understood. To address this, we explored how priming interpersonal and place attachment security affects intrusive symptoms in the context of man-made and natural traumatic events. One hundred sixty-five adult participants were randomly assigned to interpersonal or place attachment security priming or a control condition and subsequently watched man-made war or natural disaster films in a lab setting. For the following 7 days, they completed an intrusion diary each day. The results showed that although neither type of attachment security priming immediately alleviated distress following traumatic stimuli, both exerted mitigating effects during the subsequent week: Interpersonal attachment security reduced daily intrusion counts, and place attachment security decreased both intrusion counts and vividness. However, the interaction between man-made trauma and place attachment security priming was associated with worsened daily intrusion-related distress. Under natural disaster conditions, postpriming state attachment security and posttrauma reappraisal mediated the effects of attachment priming on intrusive and traumatic symptoms. This study reveals the varying effects of interpersonal or place attachment priming on intrusive memories in man-made war and natural disaster, demonstrating the impact of attachment security priming in the immediate and short term after viewing trauma films. These findings offer the potential for developing attachment-based interventions tailored to specific trauma types. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).