Relationship of negative emotionality, NIAAA recovery, and 3- and 6-month drinking outcomes among adults in treatment for alcohol use disorder.

BACKGROUND: The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) recently released a new definition of recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD). A patient is considered recovered if they are remitted from DSM-5 AUD and report cessation of heavy drinking. The NIAAA has also recently proposed the Addictions Neuroclinical Assessment (ANA) to guide treatment research. Negative emotionality is one of three domains of the ANA and theory proposes that AUD is maintained by negative reinforcement via the relief of negative affect. The purpose of the current study was to examine: (1) the relationship of end-of-treatment negative emotionality and NIAAA recovery, and (2) the ability of NIAAA recovery at the end of treatment to predict three- and six-month drinking outcomes. METHOD: At baseline and end-of-treatment, women and men (n = 181) in treatment for AUD completed measures of negative emotionality, drinking, and were assessed for DSM-5 AUD diagnostic criteria. At three- and six-months post-treatment, drinking was re-assessed. RESULTS: 22.5% (n = 24) of participants met full criteria for NIAAA recovery at end-of-treatment. Lower levels of end of treatment negative emotionality were associated with increased odds of achieving NIAAA recovery. Meeting NIAAA recovery predicted greater percent days abstinent (PDA) and lower percent heavy drinking days (PHDD) at 3-months, but not at 6-months post-treatment. CONCLUSIONS: This study is among the first to report a relationship between the negative emotionality domain of the ANA and NIAAA recovery. Results underscore the importance of addressing negative emotionality in treatment. Findings also suggest that NIAAA recovery predicts positive short term drinking outcomes.

Exposure to negative emotional cues and alcohol cue reactivity with alcoholics: a preliminary investigation.

Fifty-one male and female inpatient alcoholics received cue exposure treatment involving in vivo exposure to alcohol cues and imaginal exposure to individualized high-risk drinking situations involving negative emotional cues. At post-test, self-report measures of urge to drink alcohol and negative emotional states were obtained during an alcohol cue reactivity assessment. Contrary to our hypothesis, greater exposure to negative emotional cues during treatment was associated with greater urge and negative emotional responses at post-test. In addition, greater duration of exposure to negative emotional cues predicted greater attention to alcohol-related stimuli and thoughts about drinking during the post-test. Implications for future research in this area include extending the duration of exposure to negative emotional cues in order to establish the optimal exposure durations within which a majority of individuals achieve clinically significant reductions in their urge to drink alcohol.

Integrating substance abuse treatment for the seriously mentally ill into inpatient psychiatric treatment.

This paper offers guidelines for the assessment and treatment of substance abuse problems in seriously mentally ill persons who are admitted into inpatient psychiatric treatment. This approach has been used successfully by the authors and may be most useful in settings where a specialized dual-diagnosis treatment program is not feasible. The first step consists of identifying potential substance abusers using several sources of information including the patient's record, a brief patient interview, and an interview with the patient's family and caseworker. Patients who have a confirmed or suspected substance abuse problem undergo a substance abuse assessment designed to evaluate consumption patterns, the negative consequences of substance use, and high-risk situations for alcohol and drug use. Patients are then presented with individualized feedback in a non-coercive manner, which is intended to increase their motivation to change their substance-use behavior. Treatment consists of a structured coping skills group which covers nine specific topics. The topics covered in the group treatment include both general social skills and specific drug and alcohol coping skills intended to assist individuals in coping effectively with high-risk situations. The content of each group session is described along with guidelines for conducting coping skills group treatment with the seriously mentally ill.

The acute effects of alcohol on the blood pressure of young, normotensive men.

Alcohol's acute effects on arterial blood pressure (BP) were examined. To separate the effects of alcohol on BP from those of fluid volume and expectancy, normotensive men were divided into three groups. The alcohol group received 1.0 ml of absolute alcohol/kg of body weight. The expectancy group expected alcohol but received only tonic. The control group expected and received only tonic. With age as a covariate, significant changes in systolic BP were found only in the alcohol group, indicating that the changes in systolic BP were not attributable to subject expectancy or volume of fluid consumed. The expectancy control groups did not differ from each other. A significant quadratic trend was found for systolic BP in the alcohol group, suggesting that alcohol may have an acute biphasic effect on systolic BP, with an initial decrease as the alcohol is ingested followed by an increase toward the basal level during detoxication. No significant effects were found for diastolic BP.

Alcoholics Anonymous and the use of medications to prevent relapse: an anonymous survey of member attitudes.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to systematically assess the attitudes of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) members toward the newer medications used to prevent relapse (e.g., naltrexone) and to assess their experiences with medication use, of any type, in AA. METHOD: Using media solicitations and snowball sampling techniques, 277 AA members were surveyed anonymously about their attitudes toward use of medication for preventing relapse and their experiences with medication use of any type in AA. RESULTS: Over half the sample believed the use of relapse-preventing medication either was a good idea or might be a good idea. Only 17% believed an individual should not take it and only 12% would tell another member to stop taking it. Members attending relatively more meetings in the past 3 months had less favorable attitudes toward the medication. Almost a third (29%) reported personally experiencing some pressure to stop a medication (of any type). However, 69% of these continued taking the medication. CONCLUSIONS: The study did not find strong, widespread negative attitudes toward medication for preventing relapse among AA members. Nevertheless, some discouragement of medication use does occur in AA. Though most AA members apparently resist pressure to stop a medication, when medication is prescribed a need exists to integrate it within the philosophy of 12-step treatment programs.

A comparison of three "interventions" on pretreatment dropout rates in an outpatient substance abuse clinic.

Studies examining pretreatment dropout in outpatient substance abuse clinics have consistently demonstrated that fewer days between phone contact and scheduled intake appointment result in higher client show rates. To compare time to intake with two other interventions hypothesized to increase show rates, individuals (N = 128) seeking treatment were randomly assigned to one of four groups. Individuals in Group 1 were scheduled within 48 hours of the telephone intake. Individuals in Groups 2, 3, and 4 were scheduled 48 hours or more after the telephone intake and received either a reminder call 24 hours prior to their appointment (Group 2), an appointment card and clinic brochure in the mail (Group 3), or no intervention (Group 4). The results show that Group 1 had a higher show rate as compared to the other three groups, and receiving a reminder call or an appointment card did not improve show rates beyond that of the no-contact control group. Implications for intake procedures are discussed.

High-risk alcohol and drug use situations among seriously mentally ill inpatients: a preliminary investigation.

Situational factors are important determinants of alcohol and drug use in general samples of substance abusers, with alcohol users and drug users reporting different trigger situations. This study represents an initial attempt to investigate high-risk alcohol and drug use situations in a sample of dually diagnosed individuals. Thirty men and women with both a serious mental illness and an alcohol use or drug use disorder were recruited from an inpatient psychiatric unit and completed questionnaires assessing high-risk alcohol and drug use situations psychiatric symptomatology, and psychological symptoms that trigger substance use. Although the alcohol and drug groups did not differ significantly in the frequency of self-reported high-risk situations for substance use, effect size analyses suggest that six of eight comparisons would demonstrate statistically significant differences with a larger sample size. Both groups reported using substances most frequently when feeling anxiety or depressive symptoms rather than psychotic symptoms. Although preliminary, these results have relevance for the treatment of dually diagnosed persons, particularly for behavioral treatment interventions such as coping skills training and stimulus control techniques.

Alcohol cue reactivity and private self-consciousness among male alcoholics.

Recent alcohol cue exposure studies have noted that not all alcoholics demonstrate increased reactivity when presented with alcohol-related cues. This study examined the relationship of private self-consciousness (PSC) to subjective, self-report measures of reactivity and measures of negative mood states that involve a focus on internal processes. These subjective measures of reactivity were contrasted with salivary reactivity, an objective measure of reactivity which does not require individual self-report or awareness. A cue reactivity assessment was administered to 47 men meeting DSM-III-R criteria for a diagnosis of alcohol dependence. Our hypothesis, that PSC would predict urge reactivity status and greater levels of negative mood states, was supported. Urge reactors were more likely to be high in PSC, while the proportions of salivary reactors and nonreactors were not significantly different between the high and low PSC groups. Although regression analyses indicated that PSC did not significantly predict urge to drink alcohol, it did predict angry/frustrated mood and sad/depressed mood at the first alcohol trial. These results suggest that individuals high in PSC may benefit more from cue exposure-based treatment, as they are more likely to be urge reactors and to evidence negative mood reactivity. Low PSC individuals may be at higher risk for relapse given they are less able to recognize internal reactions signaling the presence of a high-risk alcohol use situation, and therefore less likely to mobilize coping responses.

A conditioning reinterpretation of cognitive events in alcohol and drug cue exposure.

Cue exposure treatments of alcohol and substance abuse disorders are based on a classical conditioning model of drug use and relapse. Recently, social learning theory has been utilized to explain the relationship of cognitive constructs (i.e., self-efficacy, outcome expectations) to measures of cue reactivity. However, social learning theory has not provided clear and testable mechanisms by which cognitions influence behavior. This paper proposes a mechanism, based on principles of classical conditioning, whereby cognitions may influence reactivity to alcohol and drug cues. This view of cognitions within a conditioning framework has several important implications for cue exposure research and treatment.

Effects of infant cries on alcohol consumption in college males at risk for child abuse.

This analog study examines the effect of hearing a child's cries on alcohol consumption, comprising one link in a possible association between drinking and child abuse. Thirty-two male undergraduate volunteers were preselected by age, drinking practices, and abuse potential. Subjects were assigned to either a high or low abuse potential group and were then randomly assigned to hear either an infant cry or a smoke alarm. Blood pressure was measured during each of three stimulus presentations. Following each presentation, the subject was asked to rate the stimulus on a number of different dimensions (e.g., soothing-arousing). Additionally all subjects participated in a subsequent taste-rating task as an unobtrusive measure of alcohol consumption. The results indicate that, regardless of risk group, subjects who listened to the infant cry consumed significantly more alcohol (M = 206 ml, SD = 126.43) during the taste-rating task than did those who heard only the smoke alarm (Mr = 95.68 ml, SD = 62.94) which was also rated as aversive. There was no relationship between abuse potential and alcohol consumption. Although diastolic blood pressure did not differ between groups, analysis of the infant rating scales revealed that, regardless of risk group, subjects who heard the infant cry reported feeling more aversion, arousal, and distress, than did those who heard the smoke alarm. These results lend additional support to studies depicting the infant cry as a stressful and aversive event, capable of eliciting increased drinking. Implications for arousal reduction by alcohol and a model of alcohol-induced child abuse are discussed.

Subject-collateral reports of drinking in inpatient alcoholics with comorbid cocaine dependence.

Greater substance abuse severity has been associated with less reliable self-reports of drinking in individuals with only an alcohol use disorder. In addition, individuals with multiple substance use disorders often report greater substance abuse severity. Therefore, it is important to be confident in the self-reports of substance use in individuals with multiple substance use disorders. Although there is considerable confidence in the use of collateral reports as a measure of drinking in individuals with only a diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence, information about subject-collateral agreement for individuals who meet the criteria for more than one substance use disorder is lacking. In this study, we examined subject-collateral reports of substance abuse in individuals presenting for alcohol treatment who met DSM-III-R criteria for alcohol and cocaine use disorder (n = 85). We then compared subject-collateral reports of those individuals to subject-collateral reports for individuals with only a diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence (n = 99). Overall, the results demonstrate that self-reports of individuals with alcohol and cocaine use disorders are generally valid. The results revealed no significant differences between groups on measures of subject-collateral consistency for several alcohol use variables. However, a significant difference was found for the number of days of drug use, with subject-collateral agreement being greater for individuals with an alcohol and cocaine use disorder. Additional analyses revealed that subject-collateral discrepancy scores were positively related to the participants' severity of alcohol and drug dependence. Recommendations for enhancing the accuracy of self-reports of drinking and drug use in alcoholics with comorbid cocaine use disorders are discussed.

Alcohol problem resolution in the severely mentally ill: a preliminary investigation.

Participants (N = 25) with a severe mental illness who were receiving mental health outpatient treatment at a state psychiatric hospital were interviewed regarding the resolution of their alcohol problem. Resolution was defined as abstinence or non-hazardous, consequence-free drinking for a minimum of 1 year. Participants were interviewed regarding their drinking history, life events, reasons for change and factors maintaining change. The results reveal that negative life events and weighing the pros and cons of drinking are more often associated with entry into treatment than positive life events and advice or warnings from others. In addition, resolution occurs with and without a history of alcohol-specific treatment and includes both abstinent and non-abstinent drinking outcomes. Although preliminary, these results are consistent with previous research investigating the resolution of alcohol problems in individuals with only a diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence. Unique to this population is the finding that control of psychological symptoms was identified as an important maintenance factor during the first 12 months following the resolution date. The limitations of the current study, as well as the implications of these findings for future research investigating processes of change in the severely mentally ill are discussed.

Subject-collateral reports of drinking in inpatient alcoholics with comorbid mental disorders.

Verbal self-report continues to be the primary method by which clinicians and researchers obtain measurements of a person's past drinking. In addition, collateral reports are an important second measure of an individual's drinking behavior. Although there is considerable confidence in the use of collateral reports as a measure of drinking in individuals with only a diagnosis of alcohol abuse or dependence, information about subject-collateral reports for alcoholics with a comorbid mental disorder is lacking. given both that symptoms of mental illness can negatively impact cognitive processes relevant to the recall of information, and that such symptoms can be influenced by alcohol consumption, it is important to be confident in the reports of alcohol use in dually diagnosed individuals. This study examined subject-collateral reports of alcohol use in two groups of inpatient alcoholics: those meeting DSM-III-R criteria for an alcohol use disorder and a current mental disorder (n = 91) and those meeting criteria for an alcohol use disorder only (n = 93). Overall, the results show that the self-reports of alcoholics with comorbid mental disorders are generally valid. In addition, subject-collateral agreement was found to be similar for both groups, with no consistent tendency to overreport or underreport alcohol or drug use in either group. Importantly, psychological symptom severity and cognitive functioning were not related to subject-collateral agreement. However, less frequent contact between subject and collateral had a more negative impact on subject-collateral agreement for the dual diagnosis group, compared with the alcohol-only group. Recommendations for enhancing the accuracy of self-reports of drinking in a dual diagnosis population are discussed.