Behavioral couples therapy for female substance-abusing patients: Effects on substance use and relationship adjustment.

Married or cohabiting female drug-abusing patients (N=75) were randomly assigned to either a behavioral couples therapy condition (BCT, n=37), which consisted of group, individual, and behavioral couples therapy sessions, or to an equally intensive individual-based treatment condition (IBT; n=38), which consisted of group and individual counseling. During most of the 1-yr follow-up, compared with participants who received IBT, those who received BCT reported (1) fewer days of substance use, (2) longer periods of continuous abstinence, (3) lower levels of alcohol, drug, and family problems, and (4) higher relationship satisfaction. However, differences in relationship satisfaction and number of days of substance use dissipated over the course of the posttreatment follow-up period and were not significantly different by the end of 1 yr. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuropsychological functioning in posttraumatic stress disorder and alcohol abuse.

Studies have shown differences in neuropsychological functioning between groups with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and control participants. Because individuals with PTSD often have a history of comorbid alcohol abuse, the extent to which an alcohol confound is responsible for these differences remains a concern. The current study compares neuropsychological testing scores in 4 groups of veterans with and without PTSD (PTSD+ and PTSD-, respectively) and with and without a history of alcohol abuse (ETOH+ and ETOH-, respectively): n for PTSD+/ETOH- = 30, n for PTSD+/ETOH- = 37, n for PTSD-/ETOH+ = 30, and n for PTSD-/ETOH- = 31. Results showed that PTSD, when alcohol, educational level, vocabulary, and depression are controlled for, was associated with decreased verbal memory, attention, and processing speed performance. Alcohol abuse history was associated with decreased visual memory performance. By controlling for alcohol and depression, the authors can more conclusively demonstrate that verbal memory and attention differences are associated with PTSD. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of AIDS and alcohol/drug abuse: Psychosocial research.

Reviews the book, AIDS and alcohol/drug abuse: Psychosocial research, edited by Dennis G. Fisher (1991). Substance use, primarily intravenous drug use, accounts for an increasingly large proportion of new acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) cases. As such, psychosocial research in the addictions plays an important role in evaluating strategies for reaching out to and educating those at risk for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and in developing effective prevention and risk-reduction strategies for this special population. This book is thus a timely contribution to the field. The seven brief chapters in this volume cover an extremely broad range of topics related to the relationship between AIDS and substance abuse. On the whole, however, the chapters in this volume are strikingly uneven in their sophistication and degree of relevance to the general psychologist working in addictive behaviors. Whereas some of the chapters are too brief to fully explore the implications of some of the issues they raise, the brevity of others is appropriate. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Inventory of Gambling Situations in problem and pathological gamblers seeking alcohol and drug abuse treatment.

Identifying situations in which individuals gamble may be important for developing or improving treatments, but few instruments exist for examining high-risk gambling situations. This study evaluated the factor structure of the Inventory of Gambling Situations (IGS), an instrument that assesses situations that may lead to gambling episodes. Individuals seeking alcohol and drug abuse treatment who were identified as problem or pathological gamblers (N = 283) completed the IGS, and principal component analysis revealed a 4-factor solution best fit the data; the factors represented items related to Negative Affect, Positive Affect, Gambling Cues, and Social Situations. Across the whole scale, Cronbach's alpha was 0.97, ranging from 0.83 to 0.96 for the four factors. IGS total scores correlated with other indices of gambling problems, including number of pathological gambling criteria endorsed and frequency and intensity of gambling. Race, education, and severity of psychiatric, drug, and alcohol problems were significantly predictive of some factor scores. Specifically, African Americans were more likely to gamble in response to Negative Affect situations than Caucasians, and education was inversely associated with wagering in response to Gambling Cues. Psychiatric symptoms were predictive of gambling in response to both Positive and Negative Affect situations and Gambling Cues. Severity of drug and alcohol problems were related to gambling in Social Situations. Results from this study indicate that the IGS has good psychometric properties and suggest areas in which intervention efforts may be tailored to prevent or treat gambling problems among individuals seeking substance abuse treatment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Family-focused treatment versus individual treatment for bipolar disorder: Results of a randomized clinical trial.

Recently hospitalized bipolar, manic patients (N=53) were randomly assigned to a 9-month, manual-based, family-focused psychoeducational therapy (n=28) or to an individually focused patient treatment (n=25). All patients received concurrent treatment with mood-stabilizing medications. Structured follow-up assessments were conducted at 3-month intervals for a 1-year period of active treatment and a 1-year period of posttreatment follow-up. Compared with patients in individual therapy, those in family-focused treatment were less likely to be rehospitalized during the 2-year study period. Patients in family treatment also experienced fewer mood disorder relapses over the 2 years, although they did not differ from patients in individual treatment in their likelihood of a first relapse. Results suggest that family psychoeducational treatment is a useful adjunct to pharmacotherapy in decreasing the risk of relapse and hospitalization frequently associated with bipolar disorder. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preparing clients for alcoholism treatment: Effects on treatment participation and outcomes.

In this study, 126 clients (87 men, 39 women) entering outpatient alcoholism treatment were assigned randomly to 1 of 3 preparatory conditions: a role induction (RI) session, a motivational interview (MI) session, or a no-preparatory session control group (CG). Clients assigned to the MI preparatory condition attended more treatment sessions and had fewer heavy drinking days during and 12 months after treatment relative to CG clients. Clients assigned to MI, relative to CG clients, also had more abstinent days during treatment and during the first 3 months posttreatment, although this difference was not maintained through the remainder of the 12-month follow-up period. Clients assigned to the RI condition showed no significant advantage over those in the CG condition. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of individual client-centered play therapy on sexually abused children's mood, self-concept, and social competence.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain effects of individual client-centered play therapy on sexually abused children's mood, self-concept, and social competence. A weekly client-centered play therapy protocol was utilized with 26 cases of 3 to 9 year-old sexually abused children for approximately ten sessions. All 26 subjects and parents completed an assessment battery before and immediately after treatment, and 24 cases completed a two-month follow-up battery. Overall, findings indicate mixed support for the efficacy of play therapy. Although there was initial support for improvement in the childrens' perceptions of competency, other group comparison results indicated no statistical significance. Utilizing the Reliable Change Index formula, 8 children clinically improved, 4 deteriorated, 4 improved with follow-up deterioration, and 8 cases indicated no significant change. Additional qualitative severity comparisons, research limitations, and a discussion of the impact on current practice follow. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of pathological gamblers with and without substance abuse treatment histories.

This study evaluated the prevalence and correlates of substance abuse histories in 341 consecutive admissions to gambling treatment programs. After controlling for gender, income, and site, gamblers with substance abuse treatment histories (SATH; 31%) had more severe problems than gamblers with no substance abuse treatment histories (NSATH) on the Gambling, Alcohol, Drug, Psychiatric, and Employment scales of the Addiction Severity Index. The SATH group had more years of gambling problems and gambled more days in the month prior to initiating gambling treatment. The SATH gamblers were also more likely to be receiving treatment for mental health problems and reported greater lifetime psychiatric distress than NSATH gamblers. These data suggest that pathological gamblers with substance abuse treatment histories may present more persistent and severe gambling dysfunction and psychiatric problems than those without such histories. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of alcohol on tests of executive functioning in men and women: A dose response examination.

[Correction Notice: An erratum for this article was reported in Vol 19(4) of Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology (see record 2011-16762-001). This article contained errors in the text. These errors are explained and corrected in the correction.] Alcohol has been shown to affect performance on tasks associated with executive functioning. However, studies in this area have generally been limited to a single dose or gender or have used small sample sizes. The purpose of this study was to provide a more nuanced and systematic examination of alcohol's effects on commonly used tests of executive functioning at multiple dosages in both men and women. Research volunteers (91 women and 94 men) were randomly assigned to one of four drink conditions (alcohol doses associated with target blood alcohol concentrations of .000%, .050%, .075%, and .100%). Participants then completed three tasks comprising two domains of executive functioning: two set shifting tasks, the Trail Making Test and a computerized version of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, and a response inhibition task, the GoStop Impulsivity Paradigm. Impaired performance on set shifting tasks was found at the .100% and .075% dosages, but alcohol intoxication did not impair performance on the GoStop. No gender effects emerged. Thus, alcohol negatively affects set shifting at moderately high levels of intoxication in both men and women, likely attributable to alcohol's interference with prefrontal cortex function. Although it is well established that alcohol negatively affects response inhibition as measured by auditory stop-signal tasks, alcohol does not appear to exert a negative effect on response inhibition as measured by the GoStop, a visual stop-signal task. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Partner Violence Before and After Couples-Based Alcoholism Treatment for Male Alcoholic Patients: The Role of Treatment Involvement and Abstinence.

This study examined partner violence before and after behavioral couples therapy (BCT) for 303 married or cohabiting male alcoholic patients and used a demographically matched nonalcoholic comparison sample. In the year before BCT, 60% of alcoholic patients had been violent toward their female partner, 5 times the comparison sample rate of 12%. In the 1st and 2nd year after BCT, violence decreased significantly from the year before BCT, and clinically significant violence reductions occurred for patients whose alcoholism was remitted after BCT. Structural equation modeling indicated that greater treatment involvement (attending BCT sessions and using BCT-targeted behaviors) was related to lower violence after BCT and that this association was mediated by reduced problem drinking and enhanced relationship functioning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Treating paternal alcoholism with learning sobriety together: Effects on adolescents versus preadolescents.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether Learning Sobriety Together, a treatment for substance abuse that combines behavioral couples therapy and individual counseling, had comparable secondary benefits on the internalizing and externalizing behaviors of adolescent versus preadolescent siblings living in homes with their alcoholic fathers (N = 131) and their non-substance-abusing mothers. During a 17-month assessment period, the association between parents' functioning (i.e., fathers' drinking as determined by percentage of days abstinent and parents' dyadic adjustment) and children's adjustment (as rated by mothers, fathers, and children's teachers) was stronger for preadolescents than for their adolescent siblings, particularly in terms of children's externalizing behaviors. Interventions that reduce paternal drinking and improve couple functioning may serve as an important preventative intervention for preadolescents in these homes, whereas adolescents may need more intensive interventions to address internalizing and externalizing symptoms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Initiating moderate to heavy alcohol use predicts changes in neuropsychological functioning for adolescent girls and boys": Correction to Squeglia et al. (2009).

Reports an error in "Initiating moderate to heavy alcohol use predicts changes in neuropsychological functioning for adolescent girls and boys" by L. M. Squeglia, et al. (Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 2009[Dec], Vol 23[4], 715-722). The affiliation San Diego University/University of San Diego should have read San Diego State University/University of San Diego. Additionally, in the author note M. Alejandra Infante’s affiliation is listed incorrectly. Dr. Infante is affiliated only with VA San Diego Healthcare System. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 2009-24023-019.) This study prospectively examines the influence of alcohol on neuropsychological functioning in boys and girls characterized prior to initiating drinking (N = 76, ages 12–14). Adolescents who transitioned into heavy (n = 25; 11 girls, 14 boys) or moderate (n = 11; 2 girls, 9 boys) drinking were compared with matched controls who remained nonusers throughout the ~3-year follow-up period (N = 40; 16 girls, 24 boys). For girls, more past year drinking days predicted a greater reduction in visuospatial task performance from baseline to follow-up, above and beyond performance on equivalent measures at baseline (R2Δ = 10%, p     

Cognitive-behavioral therapy plus contingency management for cocaine use: Findings during treatment and across 12-month follow-up.

Contingency management (CM) rapidly reduces cocaine use, but its effects subside after treatment. Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) produces reductions months after treatment. Combined, the 2 might be complementary. One hundred ninety-three cocaine-using methadone-maintained outpatients were randomly assigned to 12 weeks of group therapy (CBT or a control condition) and voucher availability (CM contingent on cocaine-negative urine or noncontingent). Follow-ups occurred 3, 6, and 12 months posttreatment. Primary outcome was cocaine-negative urine (urinalysis 3 times/week during treatment and once at each follow-up). During treatment, initial effects of CM were dampened by CBT. Posttreatment, there were signs of additive benefits, significant in 3- versus 12-month contrasts. Former CBT participants were also more likely to acknowledge cocaine use and its effects and to report employment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Skills training in affective and interpersonal regulation followed by exposure: A phase-based treatment for PTSD related to childhood abuse.

Fifty-eight women with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to childhood abuse were randomly assigned to a 2-phase cognitive-behavioral treatment or a minimal attention wait list. Phase 1 of treatment included 8 weekly sessions of skills training in affect and interpersonal regulation; Phase 2 included 8 sessions of modified prolonged exposure. Compared with those on wait list, participants in active treatment showed significant improvement in affect regulation problems, interpersonal skills deficits, and PTSD symptoms. Gains were maintained at 3- and 9-month follow-up. Phase 1 therapeutic alliance and negative mood regulation skills predicted Phase 2 exposure success in reducing PTSD, suggesting the value of establishing a strong therapeutic relationship and emotion regulation skills before exposure work among chronic PTSD populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Structural Ecosystems Therapy for HIV-Seropositive African American Women: Effects on Psychological Distress, Family Hassles, and Family Support.

This study tests the efficacy of Structural Ecosystems Therapy (SET), a family-ecological intervention, in improving psychosocial functioning when compared with an attention-comparison person-centered condition and a community control condition. A sample of 209 HIV-seropositive, urban, low-income, African American women was randomized into 1 of the 3 conditions. Results of growth curve analyses over 5 time points revealed that SET was more efficacious than either of the control conditions in reducing psychological distress and family-related hassles. However, contrary to hypotheses, SET was not more efficacious in increasing family support. Latent growth mixture modeling analyses indicated that SET was most efficacious for women who, on average, were at or near the clinical threshold for psychological distress and for women with high levels of family hassles. Implications for further intervention development are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of voucher-based intervention on abstinence and retention in an outpatient treatment for cocaine addiction: A randomized controlled trial.

The aims of this study were to assess whether voucher magnitude improved cocaine abstinence and retention in an outpatient treatment for cocaine dependence, and to determine the effectiveness of a contingency management intervention in a European cultural context. A randomized controlled trial was conducted in which 96 participants who were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatment conditions in a community setting: standard outpatient treatment, community reinforcement approach (CRA) plus low monetary value vouchers (each point earned was equivalent to 0.125? US$ 0.18), and CRA plus high monetary value vouchers (each point was worth 0.25? US$ 0.36). In the standard treatment group, mean percentage of cocaine-negative samples was 88.45%, versus 96.09% in the CRA plus low-vouchers group, and 97.07% in the CRA plus high-vouchers group. Retention rate at 6 months was 36.5% in the standard treatment group, 53.3% in the CRA plus low-vouchers group, and 69.0% in the CRA plus high-vouchers group. The CRA plus vouchers groups obtained better results than the standard program. This study showed that treating cocaine addiction by combining CRA with vouchers was more effective than standard treatment in community outpatient programs in Spain. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of methyphenidate and expectancy on children with ADHD: Behavior, academic performance, and attributions in a summer treatment program and regular classroom settings.

Pharmacological and expectancy effects of 0.3 mg/kg methylphenidate on the behavior and attributions of boys with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder were evaluated. In a within-subject, balanced-placebo design, 136 boys received 4 medication-expectancy conditions. Attributions for success and failure on a daily report card were gathered. Assessments took place within the setting of a summer treatment program and were repeated in boys' regular classrooms. Expectancy did not affect the boys' behavior; only active medication improved their behavior. Boys attributed their success to their effort and ability and attributed failure to task difficulty and the pill, regardless of medication and expectancy. Results were generally equivalent across the two settings; where there were differences, beneficial effects of medication were more apparent in the school setting. The findings were unaffected by individual difference factors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)