Abstract

No abstract

Background Cocaine use contines to be a significant public health problem world‐wide. However, despite substantial research efforts, no pharmacotherapies are approved for the treatment of cocaine use disorder (CUD). Argument Studies have identified positive signals for a range of medications for treating CUD. These include long‐acting amphetamine formulations, modafinil, topiramate, doxazosin and combined topiramate and mixed amphetamine salts extended‐release (MAS‐ER). However, valid conclusions about a medication's clinical efficacy require nuanced approaches that take into account behavioural phenotypes of the target population (frequency of use, co‐abuse of cocaine and other substances, genetic subgroups, psychiatric comorbidity), variables related to the medication (dose, short‐/long‐acting formulations, titration speed, medication adherence) and other factors that may affect treatment outcomes. Meta‐analyses frequently do not account for these co‐varying factors, which contributes to a somewhat nihilistic view on pharmacotherapeutic options for CUD. In addition, the predominant focus on abstinence, which is difficult for most patients to achieve, may overshadow more nuanced therapeutic signals. Conclusion While there is an emphasis on finding new medications with novel mechanisms of action for treating CUD, currently available medications deserve further investigation based on the existing literature. Evaluating refined metrics of treatment success in well‐defined subgroups of patients, and further exploring combination therapies and their synergy with behavioural/psychosocial interventions, are promising avenues to establishing effective therapies for CUD.

No abstract

ADHD-PG comorbidity is linked to factors that worsen the prognosis. Thus, screening for ADHD and verifying persistence in adulthood should be an integral component in the interdisciplinary treatment of problem/pathological gamblers.

This experimental online-survey study investigated if different written language forms in German have an effect on male bias in thinking. We used answers to the specialist riddle as an indicator for male bias in mental representations of expertise. The difficulty of this thinking task lies in the fact that a gender-unspecified specialist is often automatically assumed to be a man due to gender stereotypes. We expected that reading a text in gender-fair language before processing the specialist riddle helps readers achieve control over automatically activated gender stereotypes and thus facilitates the restructuring and reinterpretation of the problem, which is necessary to reach the conclusion that the specialist is a woman. We randomly assigned 517 native German speakers (68% women) to reading a text on expertise written either in gender-fair language or in masculine generics. Subsequently, participants were asked to solve the specialist riddle. The results show that reading a text in gender-fair language before processing the riddle led to higher rates of answers indicating that the specialist is a women compared to reading a text in masculine generics (44% vs. 33%) in women and men regardless of their self-stereotyping concerning agency and communion. The findings indicate that reading even a very short text in gender-fair language can help people break their gender-stereotype habit and thus reduce male bias in thinking. Our research emphasizes the importance of using gender-fair language in German-language texts for reducing gender stereotypes.

AimTo investigate abnormalities in automatic information processing related to self- and observer-rated alexithymia, especially with regard to somatization, controlling for confounding variables such as depression and affect.Sample89 healthy subjects (60% female), aged 19–71 years (M = 32.1). 58 subjects were additionally rated by an observer.MeasuresAlexithymia (self-rating: TAS-20, observer rating: OAS); automatic information processing (priming task including verbal [illness-related, negative, positive, neutral] and facial [negative, positive, neutral] stimuli); somatoform symptoms (SOMS-7T); confounders: depression (BDI), affect (PANAS).ResultsHigher self-reported alexithymia scores were associated with lower reaction times for negative (r = .19, p < .10) and positive (r = .26, p < .05) verbal primes when the target was illness-related. Self-reported alexithymia was correlated with number (r = .42, p < .01) and intensity of current somatoform symptoms (r = .36, p < .01), but unrelated to observer-rated alexithymia (r = .11, p = .42).DiscussionResults indicate a faster allocation of attentional resources away from task-irrelevant information towards illness-related stimuli in alexithymia. Considering the close relationship between alexithymia and somatization, these findings are compatible with the theoretical view that alexithymics focus strongly on bodily sensations of emotional arousal. A single observer rating (OAS) does not seem to be an adequate alexithymia-measure in community samples.

No abstract