Metacognition moderates the relationship of disturbances in attachment with severity of borderline personality disorder among persons in treatment of substance use disorders.

OBJECTIVES: Borderline personality disorder traits have been observed to be linked with both insecure attachment styles as well as deficits in mentalizing and metacognition. Less is known, however, about how attachment style does or does not interact with deficits in mentalizing and metacognition to create, sustain, or influence levels of borderline personality disorder traits. In this study, we examined the hypothesis that metacognitive mastery, which is the ability to use knowledge about mental states of self and others to cope with distress and solve social problems, moderates the relationship of anxious attachment style with the severity of borderline personality disorder traits. METHODS: Concurrent assessments were gathered of metacognitive mastery using the Metacognitive Assessment Scale Abbreviated, anxious attachment style using the Experiences of in Close Relationships Scale, and borderline personality disorder traits using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Disorders. Participants were 59 adults in an early phase of recovery from substance use disorders in a residential setting. RESULTS: Multiple regression revealed that metacognitive mastery moderated the relationship of anxious attachment style with the number of borderline personality disorder traits. A median split of the anxious attachment and metacognitive mastery scores was performed yielding 4 groups. An analysis of covariance revealed that participants with higher levels of anxious attachment and poorer metacognitive mastery had more borderline personality disorder traits did than the other groups after controlling for levels of psychopathology. CONCLUSION: Insecure attachment may be associated with higher number of borderline personality disorder traits in the presence of deficits in metacognitive mastery. Patients with substance use and borderline personality disorder traits may benefit from treatment which addresses metacognitive mastery.

Cluster B Personality Disorder Traits as a Predictor of Therapeutic Alliance Over Time in Residential Treatment for Substance Use Disorders.

While poor therapeutic alliance is a robust predictor of poor outcome in substance abuse treatment, less is known about the barriers to therapeutic alliances in this group. To explore this issue, this study examined whether the severity of cluster B personality disorders predicted therapeutic alliances concurrently and prospectively in a residential substance treatment program for homeless veterans. Participants were 48 adults with a substance abuse disorder. Personality disorder traits were assessed using the Structured Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Personality Disorders, whereas therapeutic alliance was assessed at baseline using the Working Alliance Inventory. Partial correlations controlling for overall symptom severity measured with the Symptom Checklist 90 and education, revealed cluster B traits at baseline predicted all 4 assessments of therapeutic alliance even after controlling for initial levels of therapeutic alliance. Results suggest that higher levels of cluster B traits are a barrier to the formation of working alliances in residential substance treatment.

Metacognition in persons with substance abuse: Findings and implications for occupational therapists.

BACKGROUND: Addiction is a massive public health problem in which a person's occupational life is compromised and metacognition is impaired. Occupational therapists may play a critical role in addiction rehabilitation, but more information about patterns of metacognitive deficit co-occurring with addictive behaviour is needed to develop interventions that specifically target these impairments. PURPOSE: This study examined whether persons with addiction(s) demonstrated specific patterns of metacognitive deficit on four subscales of metacognition measuring self-reflectivity, understanding others' thoughts, decentration, and mastery. METHOD: Using a mixed-methods design, qualitative data were obtained via the Indiana Psychiatric Illness Interview, which was then rated using a quantitative scale, the Metacognition Assessment Scale-Abbreviated. FINDINGS: Persons with addiction(s) demonstrated significant impairments in metacognitive mastery but not other areas of metacognition. IMPLICATIONS: Occupational therapy interventions for addiction should focus on improving metacognitive mastery. Future efficacy studies of interventions to improve mastery and overall outcomes are warranted.

Metacognitive mastery moderates the relationship of alexithymia with cluster C personality disorder traits in adults with substance use disorders.

Cluster C personality disorder traits have been observed in substance use disorders and linked with poorer outcome. One potential factor which may cause these disturbances in personality function is alexithymia, or the inability to name and express emotion. There may be other proximate factors which moderate the impact of alexithymia on the expression of cluster C traits, such as metacognitive mastery, which is the ability to use knowledge about mental states of self and others to cope with distress and solve social problems. To examine the possibility that mastery mediated the effects of alexithymia on cluster C traits, we assessed each of these constructs using the Metacognitive Assessment Scale Abbreviated, Toronto Alexithymia Scale and SCID II among 58 adults in an early phase of recovery from substance misuse disorders in a residential setting. Results of a multiple regression revealed that, after controlling for symptom severity and severity of substance misuse history, metacognitive mastery moderated the effect of alexithymia on number of cluster C traits. A median split and subsequent ANCOVA revealed that participants with higher levels of alexithymia and poorer metacognitive mastery had more cluster C traits than the other groups. These findings may have clinical implications, suggesting that patients with substance use disorders may benefit from treatment which addresses metacognitive mastery.

Association of stigma, self-esteem, and symptoms with concurrent and prospective assessment of social anxiety in schizophrenia.

RATIONALE: Often overlooked clinically, social anxiety is common in schizophrenia and may represent a barrier to quality of life and social function. Little is known, however, about the possible roots of social anxiety in schizophrenia or their relationship to social anxiety over time. METHODS: To explore this issue, we examined the relationship between self-esteem, self-stigma, positive and negative symptoms, emotional discomfort and affect recognition with concurrent and prospective assessments of social anxiety using the Multidimensional Anxiety Questionnaire in a sample of seventy-eight persons meeting criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. RESULTS: Univariate correlations revealed that self-esteem, self-stigma, negative symptoms and emotional discomfort were significantly related to social anxiety assessed concurrently and five months later. Multiple regressions revealed negative symptoms and discrimination experiences in particular were found to predict social anxiety prospectively even when initial levels of social anxiety were controlled for statistically. CONCLUSIONS: Negative symptoms and self-stigma may be consistently related to social anxiety across time.