Efficacy of brief coping skills interventions that match different personality profiles of female substance abusers.

Female substance abusers recruited from the community were randomly assigned to receive 1 of 3 brief interventions that differentially targeted their personality and reasons for drug use. The 90-min interventions were: (a) a motivation-matched intervention involving personality-specific motivational and coping skills training, (b) a motivational control intervention involving a motivational film and a supportive discussion with a therapist, and (c) a motivation-mismatched intervention targeting a theoretically different personality profile. Assessment 6 months later (N?=?198) indicated that only the matched intervention proved to be more effective than the motivational control intervention in reducing frequency and severity of problematic alcohol and drug use and preventing use of multiple medical services. These findings indicate promise for a client-treatment matching strategy that focuses on personality-specific motives for substance abuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validation of a measure of excessive drinking: frequency per year that BAL exceeds 0.08%

Although self-report data are generally evaluated as reliable, validity estimates for self-reported drinking behavior are not as favorable. A new method of measurement addressing problems currently associated with the questionable validity of self-report drinking information is introduced. Study 1 tests the correspondence between the new measure (occasions per year blood alcohol level exceeded 0.08%), traditional self-report measures, and laboratory alcohol consumption. The novel measure correlated most strongly with volume of alcohol consumed in the laboratory compared to the traditional measures. In Study 2 the novel measure was favored over a traditional measure when discriminating between the presence and absence of problem-drinking symptoms.     

Validation of a system of classifying female substance abusers on the basis of personality and motivational risk factors for substance abuse.

This study explored the validity of classifying a community-recruited sample of substance-abusing women (N?=?293) according to 4 personality risk factors for substance abuse (anxiety sensitivity, introversion-hopelessness, sensation seeking, and impulsivity). Cluster analyses reliably identified 5 subtypes of women who demonstrated differential lifetime risk for various addictive and nonaddictive disorders. An anxiety-sensitive subtype demonstrated greater lifetime risk for anxiolytic dependence, somatization disorder, and simple phobia, whereas an introverted-hopeless subtype evidenced a greater lifetime risk for opioid dependence, social phobia, and panic and depressive disorders. Sensation seeking was associated with exclusive alcohol dependence, and impulsivity was associated with higher rates of antisocial personality disorder and cocaine and alcohol dependence. Finally, a low personality risk subtype demonstrated lower lifetime rates of substance dependence and psychopathology. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Biphasic effects of alcohol on heart rate are influenced by alcoholic family history and rate of alcohol ingestion

The present study investigated cardiac response to acute alcohol challenge along the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) curve in two groups of young adult nonalcoholic men with (MFH) and without (FH-) multigenerational family histories of alcoholism, matched for drinking history. BACs and resting heart rate measurements were recorded every 10 min for 3 hr after ingestion of a 1.0 ml/kg dose of 95% USP alcohol at two different rates: one of 20 min (slow drinking) and the other of 5 min (fast drinking). Several analyses of variance were performed for each of the dependent measures [BAC and heart rate change from baseline (HRCH)]. A significant risk x BAC phase interaction emerged from the HRCH analysis, indicating that the MFH group was characterized by a significantly greater increase in resting heart rate along the ascending limb of the BAC curve. A significant risk x BAC phase x rate interaction indicated that, when alcohol was consumed at a faster rate, men with multigenerational family histories of alcoholism demonstrated a greater HRCH, which persisted throughout the BAC curve.     

The response to rapid infusion of fentanyl in the human brain measured using pulsed arterial spin labelling

Objective

We evaluated the sensitivity of pulsed Arterial Spin Labelling (pASL) for the detection of changes in regional cerebral blood perfusion (CBP) during and after intra-venous (i.v.) infusion of an opioid agonist (fentanyl) and an opioid antagonist (naloxone).

Materials and methods

Twenty-three subjects were scanned four times, receiving i.v. infusion of fentanyl, naloxone, placebo and a second fentanyl administration, in four separate scanning sessions in randomised order. End-tidal CO₂, respiration rate and heart rate were recorded continuously throughout each scan. pASL time series were collected using single shot EPI for 15?min (including 5?min of baseline prior to infusion).

Results

Significant increases in CBP were detected during and after administration of fentanyl, (when compared to placebo and naloxone), in most areas of high concentration of mu-opioid receptors (thalamus, lingual gyrus, para-hippocampal gyrus, and insula); near-significant increases were also observed in the insula. No increases in perfusion were observed during or after naloxone infusion. No correlation was found between regional rCBF changes and end-tidal CO₂, respiration rate or heart rate. Good reliability was found between the first and second fentanyl sessions but the regions of high reliability did not overlap completely with those of highest perfusion change.

Conclusion

pASL is a suitable method for examining rapid, dynamic effects of opioid administration on brain physiology.     

Functional associations among trauma, PTSD, and substance-related disorders

This review article presents several potential functional pathways which may explain the frequent co-occurrence of PTSD and substance abuse disorders in traumatized individuals. Emerging empirical studies which have examined these potential pathways are reviewed, including studies on relative order of onset, PTSD patients' perceptions of various drug effects, comparisons of PTSD patients with and without comorbid substance use disorders, and correlational studies examining the relations between severity of specific PTSD symptom clusters and substance disorder symptoms. Research on the acute and chronic effects of alcohol and other drugs on cognitive and physiological variables relevant to PTSD intrusion and arousal symptoms is reviewed to highlight ways in which these two sets of PTSD symptoms might be functionally interrelated with substance abuse. Finally, based on these findings, recommendations are made for the treatment of individuals with comorbid PTSD-substance use disorders.     

Long-term effects of a personality-targeted intervention to reduce alcohol use in adolescents.

Objective: To examine the long-term effects of a personality-targeted intervention on drinking quantity and frequency (QF), problem drinking, and personality-specific motivations for alcohol use in early adolescence. Method: A randomized control trial was carried out with 364 adolescents (median age 14) recruited from 13 secondary schools with elevated scores in Hopelessness, Anxiety-Sensitivity (AS), Impulsivity, and Sensation-Seeking. Participants were randomly assigned to a control no-intervention condition or a 2-session group coping skills intervention targeting 1 of 4 personality risk factors. The effects of the intervention on quantity/frequency (QF) of alcohol use, frequency of binge drinking, problem drinking, and motives were examined at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months postintervention. Results: Intent-to-treat repeated measures analyses revealed a significant overall intervention effect in reducing problem drinking symptoms, and a Time × Intervention effect on drinking QF and binge drinking frequency. Relative to the control group, the intervention group showed significantly reduced drinking and binge drinking levels at 6 months postintervention and reduced problem drinking symptoms for the full 24-month follow-up period (Cohen's d = 0.33). A significant Time × Intervention × Personality interaction was demonstrated for coping and enhancement drinking motives. In addition to an overall effect of intervention on coping motives, the AS group who received that intervention reported fewer coping motives compared with the AS control group at 12 and 24 months postintervention. Conclusions: This study provides further evidence showing that personality-targeted interventions reduce drinking behavior in adolescents in the short term. Novel findings were that the interventions were shown to produced long-term effects on drinking problems and personality-specific effects on drinking motives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential sensitivity to alcohol reinforcement in groups of men at risk for distinct alcoholism subtypes

The present study examines the relationship of familial and personality risk factors for alcoholism to individual differences in sensitivity to the positively and negatively reinforcing properties of alcohol. Sixteen sons of male alcoholics with multigenerational family histories of alcoholism (MFH) and 11 men who self-report heightened sensitivity to anxiety (HAS) were compared with 13 age-matched family history negative, low anxiety sensitive men (FH-LAS) on sober and alcohol-intoxicated response patterns. We were interested in the effects of alcohol on specific psychophysiological indices of "stimulus reactivity," anxiety, and incentive reward. Alcohol significantly dampened heart rate reactivity to aversive stimulation for the MFH and HAS men equally, yet did not for the FH-LAS group. HAS men evidenced idiosyncrasies with respect to alcohol-induced changes in electrodermal reactivity to aversive stimulation (an index of anxiety/fear-dampening), and MFH men demonstrated elevated alcohol-intoxicated resting heart rates (an index of psychostimulation) relative to the FH-LAS men. The results are interpreted as reflecting a sensitivity to the "stimulus reactivity-dampening" effects of alcohol in both high-risk groups, yet population-specific sensitivities to the fear-dampening and psychostimulant properties of alcohol in the HAS and MFH groups, respectively.