Social decision making in severe alcohol use disorder: Scoping review and experimental perspectives

Abstract

Background Patients with severe alcohol use disorder (SAUD) demonstrate multifaceted impairments in social cognition abilities, including emotional decoding or Theory of Mind. Such impairments are associated with real‐life interpersonal difficulties, which in turn could contribute to the persistence of SAUD. However, little is known regarding how patients with SAUD make decisions in a social context and this literature has not been comprehensively reviewed. Objectives The main aim of this paper was to conduct the first review specifically focusing on social decision‐making abilities in SAUD. Following PRISMA guidelines for scoping reviews, we describe existing knowledge regarding the difficulties experienced by patients with SAUD during social interactions. Our second objective was to propose perspectives for future research, based on the shortcomings identified in the available literature. Design We searched three online databases (PubMed, PsycINFO, and Scopus) and identified 14 papers using behavioral tasks to assess social decision making in patients with SAUD. Results Included studies assessed social decision making through three paradigms: (1) economic games (four papers), (2) moral dilemmas (four papers), and (3) interpersonal problem‐solving (six papers). Results indicated that patients with SAUD behave differently from controls in all three paradigms. Conclusions Previous studies suggested large‐scale social decision‐making impairments or biases in SAUD. However, in light of the limited number of studies available and of the restricted set of processes measured, we call for the extension of this field through more ecologically relevant and model‐based paradigms in order to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of these effects.

Prevalence, Perpetrators, and Factors Associated With Intimate Partner Violence Among Adolescents Living in Urban Slums of Kampala, Uganda

“…Excessive alcohol use may lead to IPV victimization or may follow IPV victimization as a way of coping with negative effects of IPV experiences (Kobulsky et al, 2016; Overup et al, 2015). Excessive alcohol consumption is associated with difficulties in emotion processing and social cognition among females, that is, deficits in decoding others’ emotions and inferring others’ mental states or feelings, and experiencing empathy for others (Gautier et al, 2021; Le Berre, 2019). These deficits lead to strained inter-personal and social relationships, preventing the emergence of new relationships (Le Berre, 2019; Pabst et al, 2020) and may increase vulnerability to IPV victimization among women who consume alcohol (Kazemi et al, 2019).…”

Adaptor protein complex 2 in the orbitofrontal cortex predicts alcohol use disorder

“…In rodents, social interaction activates OFC neurons and 5-HT release 71 , and optogenetic manipulation of OFC projections to the basolateral amygdala alters social behavior 72,73 . There is strong evidence that individuals with AUD have difficulties with social cognition, social decision-making, and emotion processing 67,74 , which is proposed to contribute to the development and maintenance of excessive alcohol drinking and the increased risk for relapse 67 . While it is unclear if the differentially expressed proteins represent innate biological differences or are a consequence of heavy alcohol drinking, clinical studies suggest that severity of deficits in facial emotion recognition tasks are related to greater lifetime drinking and longer durations of excessive drinking episodes, as well as poorer treatment outcome [75][76][77] .…”