Abstinent alcohol dependent individuals commonly employ thought suppression to cope with stress and intrusive cognitions about alcohol. This strategy may inadvertently bias attention toward alcohol-related stimuli while depleting neurocognitive resources needed to regulate urges, manifested as decreased heart rate variability (HRV) responsivity to alcohol cues. The present study tested the hypothesis that trait and state thought suppression, impaired regulation of urges, and alcohol attentional bias as measured by the Addiction-Stroop would have significant effects on the HRV responsivity of 58 adults in residential treatment for alcohol dependence (mean age = 39.6 ± 9.4, 81% female) who participated in an affect-modulated cue-reactivity protocol. Regression analyses controlling for age, level of pre-treatment alcohol consumption, and baseline HRV indicated that higher levels of trait thought suppression, impaired regulation of alcohol urges, and attentional fixation on alcohol cues were associated with lower HRV responsivity during stress-primed alcohol cue-exposure. Moreover, there was a significant state X trait suppression interaction on HRV cue-responsivity, such that alcohol dependent persons reporting high levels of state and trait suppression exhibited less HRV during cue-exposure than persons reporting low levels of state and trait suppression. Results suggest that chronic thought suppression taxes regulatory resources reflected in reduced HRV responsivity, an effect that is particularly evident when high trait suppressors engage in intensive suppression of drinking-related thoughts under conditions of stress. Treatment approaches that offer effective alternatives to the maladaptive strategy of suppressing alcohol urges may be crucial for relapse prevention.
Objective: This study assessed the effectiveness of Seeking Safety on depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) with incarcerated women. Method: A randomized controlled trial ( N = 40) was used to analyze Seeking Safety’s effectiveness compared to a treatment-as-usual control group. Analyses of covariance were used to assess differences at posttest ( n = 33) and 4-month follow-up ( n = 29) while repeated measures analysis of variance was used to assess the influence of the intervention on changes over time ( n = 29). The researchers also analyzed individual participants’ scores from pretest to 4-month follow-up ( n = 29). Results: Both groups decreased their scores on the Center for Epidemiology Studies–Depression Scale and the PTSD Checklist, although improvement was greater for treatment group participants except for depression at 4-month follow-up. Conclusion: Results support the continued use of Seeking Safety as a helpful corrections-based intervention for women, but more research with larger sample sizes is needed to consider it an effective intervention.
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