The study investigated explicit and implicit attitudes towards people with mental illness among medical students (non-professionals) with no previous contact with mentally ill patients and psychiatrists and psychotherapists (professionals) who had at least 2 years of professional contact with mentally ill patients. Explicit attitudes where assessed by self-report. Implicit attitudes were measured with the Go/No-Go Association Task, a variant of the Implicit Association Test that does not require the use of a comparison category. Compared to non-professionals, mental health professionals reported significantly higher approach emotions than non-professionals towards people with mental illness, showed a lesser tendency to discriminate against them, and held less restrictive attitudes. Both groups reported negative implicit attitudes towards mentally ill. Results suggest that both non-professionals and professionals display ambivalent attitudes towards people with mental illness and that professional, long-term contact with people with mental illness does not necessarily modify negative implicit attitudes.

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Objective Physical pain is considered a potential predictor of relapse in alcohol dependent individuals after treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether reductions in pain level during the follow-up period after treatment were associated with lower relapse risk. Method A sample of 366 participants were recruited from alcohol treatment centers in Warsaw, Poland. At baseline information was obtained about pain level, demographics, childhood abuse, impulsivity, depressive symptoms, severity of alcohol and sleep problems. After finishing the alcohol treatment program patients were followed for 12 months and alcohol drinking (relapse) as well as pain severity were evaluated. Results In the followed group, 29.5% of patients confirmed that they drank any alcohol during last four weeks. Comparing follow-up to baseline pain 48.6% of subjects reported an increased severity of pain, 28.8% - the same level of pain, 22.6% - decreased level of pain. There was a significant association between the decrease in level of pain and the lower risk of relapse. Other factors associated with relapse during four weeks prior to the follow up were: baseline severity of depressive symptoms, low baseline social support and number of drinking days during 4 weeks prior to entering treatment. In multivariate analysis a decrease in pain level was associated with a lower likelihood of relapse (OR=0.159; 95%CI:0.04–0.62; p=0.008) even when controlled for other factors associated with relapse. Conclusions Decreases in pain level following treatment for alcohol dependence are associated with, and may contribute to, a lower risk of alcohol relapse.

Background: Interoception may contribute to substance use disorder as it relates to the body's experience of substance use or withdrawal. However, only a few studies have directly investigated associations between interoception and alcohol use. The objective of this study was to compare individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and healthy controls on interoceptive sensibility and accuracy. Methods: The sample was comprised of two groups: individuals meeting criteria for AUD (N = 114) and healthy controls (N = 110) not meeting criteria for AUD. Interoceptive sensibility was assessed with a self-report measure (the Private Body Consciousness subscale) and interoceptive accuracy-with a behavioral measure (the Schandry test). In addition, associations between interoception and other well-recognized correlates of AUD (sleep problems, depressive and anxiety symptoms, impulsivity) were tested. Barratt's Impulsiveness Scale, Brief Symptom Inventory, and Athens Insomnia Scale were utilized to assess psychopathological symptoms as covariates. Results: When controlling for level of anxiety, sleep problems, age, sex and education, individuals with AUD scored significantly higher on self-reported interoceptive sensibility and lower on interoceptive accuracy in comparison to healthy controls. Higher interoceptive sensibility was associated with more severe sleep problems and anxiety symptoms.

Objectives: Dysfunction of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis leads to impaired stress response. FK506-binding protein 51 (FKBP5), which influences HPA axis activity via glucocorticoid receptors, is supposed to play an important role in the regulation of negative feedback and glucocorticoid resistance. Since ineffective stress response mechanisms are considered as a biological background of suicide behavior, we aimed to analyze a possible association between FKBP5 functional polymorphisms and completed suicide. Methods: The selected FKBP5 polymorphisms rs1360780 and rs3800373 were genotyped in a sample of 563 suicide victims and 475 controls. Results: A significant association between the high-induction rs3800373 C allele and completed suicide was detected (OR = 1.36, p = 0.007). In this polymorphism, genotype distribution supported a codominant model of inheritance. The analyzed SNPs were in strong linkage disequilibrium (D' = 0.916 and r² = 0.826) with the rs1360780 (T)-rs3800373 (C) haplotype apparently responsible for the observed association (OR = 1.34, p = 0.010). Conclusion: The results of the present study indicate that genetic alterations in FKBP5 may influence vulnerability to suicide.

These results underline the importance of systematic identification of discrete emotional problems and dynamics related to AD. This knowledge has implications for treatment. Psychotherapeutic interventions to improve emotional skills could be utilized in treatment of alcohol-dependent patients.

After accounting for potentially confounding variables (demographics, severity of depression, anxiety symptoms) in MANCOVA models, patients with AUD presented deficits in identification and description of their own emotional states, as well as lower emotion regulation skills when compared to HCs. No between-group differences were observed in self-reported recognition of other people's emotions, social skills, and a behavioral measure of mental states recognition. Specific rather than general emotion-processing deficits in participants with AUD were identified, suggesting problems with processing of intrapersonal emotional signals.

Background and Aims Binge eating disorder (BED) is correlated with substance use. This study aimed to estimate the life‐time prevalence of alcohol use disorder (AUD) among individuals with non‐compensatory binge eating and determine whether their life‐time prevalence of AUD is higher than in non‐bingeing controls. Design A systematic search of databases (PubMed, Embase and Web of Science) for studies of adults diagnosed with BED or a related behavior that also reported the life‐time prevalence of AUD was conducted. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) protocol was followed. The protocol was registered on the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO). Setting Studies originating in Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Participants Eighteen studies meeting the inclusion criteria were found, representing 69 233 individuals. Measurements Life‐time prevalence of AUD among individuals with binge eating disorder and their life‐time relative risk of AUD compared with individuals without this disorder. Results The pooled life‐time prevalence of AUD in individuals with binge eating disorder was 19.9% [95% confidence interval (CI) = 13.7–27.9]. The risk of life‐time AUD incidence among individuals with binge eating disorder was more than 1.5 times higher than controls (relative risk = 1.59, 95% CI = 1.41–1.79). Life‐time AUD prevalence was higher in community samples than in clinical samples (27.45 versus 14.45%, P = 0.041) and in studies with a lower proportion of women (β = −2.2773, P = 0.044). Conclusions Life‐time alcohol use disorder appears to be more prevalent with binge eating disorder than among those without.