Posttraumatic stress disorder treatment preference: Prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy, or medication therapy?

To investigate preferences for evidence-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the role of likely PTSD in those preferences. Undergraduate students (N = 119) and participants recruited from trauma support groups (N = 126) read descriptions of front-line recommended treatments for PTSD, including prolonged exposure therapy (PE), cognitive-processing therapy (CPT), and medication therapy (MT). Participants selected their treatment of choice and provided ratings of the credibility and their personal reactions to each treatment. Participants generally preferred psychotherapeutic treatments (CPT and PE) over MT, and this finding persisted when considering likely PTSD. Trauma support group participants and students with no likely PTSD showed preference towards CPT over PE, and students with likely PTSD preferred both CPT and PE over MT. In both groups, credibility and personal reaction ratings were also generally higher for the psychotherapeutic treatments than MT, with the highest ratings of credibility and personal reactions for CPT. There was a significant interaction between treatment type and likely PTSD for credibility and personal reaction ratings among students, such that students with likely PTSD had lower credibility and personal reaction ratings to MT. Determining preference for PTSD treatment has important implications for maximizing treatment efficacy, adherence, and engagement. Our results indicate that individuals generally prefer psychotherapeutic treatments, highlighting the need to increase the availability and utilization of evidence-based psychotherapeutic treatments for PTSD. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Exploring the Relationship Between ADHD Symptoms and Daily Cannabis Consequences in Emerging Adulthood: The Role of Cannabis Motives.

OBJECTIVE: Research has documented the relationship between attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and increased cannabis use, but the studies largely rely on cross-sectional or longitudinal designs. Few studies have examined the impact of recent (i.e., past 6 months) ADHD symptoms on more proximal cannabis-related factors. The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationship between cannabis use motives (coping, boredom, and sleep) and consequences and the impact of ADHD symptoms on these relationships. METHOD: Participants were 62 emerging adults (ages 19-25 years; M = 22.12, SD = 2.07; 60% male) who used cannabis regularly (two or more times in the past 2 weeks) and completed a screener assessing past-6-months ADHD symptoms at baseline followed by 14 daily reports on cannabis use, consequences, and motives. RESULTS: Across the 14 days, cannabis consequences were higher for participants with greater past-6-months symptoms of ADHD. In addition, on days when participants used cannabis for boredom and on days when they used cannabis for sleep, cannabis consequences were higher. Although greater past-6-months ADHD symptoms were associated with more consequences on days when sleep motives were endorsed, contrary to hypotheses, the strength of this relationship was greater on days when sleep motives were not endorsed. Overall, greater daily consequences for those with higher ADHD symptoms may reflect exacerbation of these symptoms, and follow-up analyses revealed that the cannabis consequences associated with higher ADHD scores were indeed ones that overlap with ADHD symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that ADHD symptoms, along with sleep and boredom motives, contribute to increased daily cannabis consequences and should be considered in developing interventions for emerging adults.

Placing your faith on the betting floor: Religiosity predicts disordered gambling via gambling fallacies.

Background and aims We examined the potential role religious beliefs may play in disordered gambling. Specifically, we tested the idea that religiosity primes people to place their faith in good fortune or a higher power. In the context of gambling, however, this may lead to gambling fallacies (e.g., erroneous beliefs that one has control over a random outcome). People who are high in religiosity may be more at risk of developing gambling fallacies, as they may believe that a higher power can influence a game of chance. Thus, this research investigated the relationship between religiosity and gambling problems and whether gambling fallacies mediated this relationship. Methods In Study 1, we recruited an online sample from Amazon's Mechanical Turk to complete measures that assessed the central constructs (religiosity, disordered gambling, and gambling fallacies). In Study 2, we conducted a secondary analysis of a large data set of representative adults (N = 4,121) from a Canadian province, which contained measures that assessed the constructs of interest. Results In Study 1, religiosity significantly predicted gambling problem. Conversely, there was no direct relationship between religiosity and gambling in Study 2. Importantly, a significant indirect effect of religiosity on disordered gambling severity through gambling fallacies was found in both studies, thus establishing mediation. The results remained the same when controlling for age, gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status for both studies. Discussion and conclusion These findings suggest religiosity and its propensity to be associated with gambling fallacies, which should be considered in the progression (and possibly treatment) of gambling.