Social Factors but Not Stress-Coping Styles Predict Relapse in Detoxified Alcoholics

Abstract

Alcohol-dependent patients face a substantial risk of relapse after detoxification. Though psychosocial stress and coping strategies are regarded as major contributing factors in returning to drinking, the direct effects of coping styles on relapse are not clear. In this treatment outcome study, a mixed gender sample of 130 detoxified and well-characterized alcohol-dependent patients (37 women) was followed up over a period of 12 months after 6 weeks of inpatient treatment. Patients had completed a comprehensive baseline assessment, including a stress coping questionnaire (SVF120). We hypothesized that these individual stress coping styles would contribute to treatment outcome. A logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the impact of stress coping styles, as well as the effect of pretreatment drinking and social characteristics on relapse. Approximately half the patients (49%) relapsed within 1 year after treatment. In contrast to our hypothesis, stress coping styles did not predict relapse. However, significant predictors of relapse were social factors related to living situation (living alone), marital status (being separated from the spouse) and pretreatment frequency of alcohol intake. These findings suggest that a partnership is more relevant for the risk of relapse than stress coping styles.

The Impact of Diacetylmorphine on Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Activity and Heroin Craving in Heroin Dependence

“…Most notably, fMRI scanning has been demonstrated to be a stressful experience associated with elevated cortisol concentrations in healthy persons and depressive patients [44,45,46]. In substance use disorders, psychosocial stress is generally considered to be a predictive factor for relapse [19,47,48]. …”

Metabolite Levels in the Brain Reward Pathway Discriminate Those Who Remain Abstinent From Those Who Resume Hazardous Alcohol Consumption After Treatment for Alcohol Dependence

“…We did not examine the infl uence of coping skills, self-esteem/self-effi cacy, social support, neurocognition and personality disorders, neurocognitive variables, or gene polymorphisms reported to predict relapse after treatment for an AUD (e.g., Bradizza et al, 2006;Krampe et al, 2006;Miller et al, 1996;Teichner et al, 2001;Walter et al, 2006;Wojnar et al, 2009). It is also likely that the magnitude and chronicity of alcohol consumption before and after treatment in our alcohol-dependent cohort were infl uenced by genetic or other premorbid and environmental factors not assessed in this research.…”

A pilot examination of the genome-wide DNA methylation signatures of subjects entering and exiting short-term alcohol dependence treatment programs

“…The former is problematic because many of the most severely affected persons present only after a sentinel event, such as an arrest, job loss, or divorce. Because intact personal and financial resources are essential to the recovery process, individuals presenting for alcohol treatment after a sentinel event are less able to recover healthy behavioral habits 7 . A sensitive, easily implementable biomarker could aid in the prevention of these psychosocial tragedies and prevent alcohol induced medical co-morbidities.…”