Current trends that integrate neuroscience, attachement theory and clinical psychiatry suggest that traumatic attachments are imprinted into the developing limbic and autonomic nervous systems of the early maturing right brain. On the other hand addiction is caused by long lasting changes in brain function as a result of pharmacological insult (repeated drug use), genetic disposition and environmental association made with drug use (learning).

From our clinical work it is known that experience of any sort of attachement abuse is not uncommon in alcohol addiction. Issues of violence and sexual abuse in early personal history deeply influence not only partners' relationship, the capacity for intimacy and mutual trust, but also parental function and cooperation. Attachement traumas in addicted patient were supposed to be very resistant in treatment because of mutual reinforcement of both problems (early trauma experience and addiction): such patients were prone to relapse in addiction treatment either because detached traumatic experiences become a source of long lasting manipulation of addicted patient for retaining the “right for drinking” either because of seriously comorbide disorders without appropriate pharmacological treatment.

In our clinical experience, we found attachement trauma psychotherapeutically accessible only after period of stable sobriety and secondly, that routine combination of intensive psycho- and pharmacotherapy gives an optimistic attitude in treatment which is illustrated by clinical vignettes.