NCT00760994

Reducing Alcohol Use & Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) With Cognitive Restructuring & Experiential Acceptance

Reducing Alcohol Use & PTSD w/ Cognitive Restructuring & Experiential Acceptance

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 80 (actual)
• Sponsor: Seattle Institute for Biomedical and Clinical Research · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether an experiential acceptance therapy intervention is effective in the treatment of alcohol dependency and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in individuals who suffer from PTSD.

Detailed description

Alcohol dependence (AD) afflicts nearly 14% of the population (Kessler et al., 1994; Kessler et al., 1997; Regier et al., 1990), and has a chronic and relapsing course (Brownell, Marlatt, Litchenstein, \& Wilson, 1986). Negative emotional states have consistently been found to maintain alcohol use disorders (AUDs; Cooney, Litt, Morse, Bauer, \& Gaupp, 1997; Litt, Cooney, Kadden, \& Gaupp, 1990; Rubonis et al., 1994) and increase the risk of relapse following AUD treatment (Cooney et al., 1997). This relationship is particularly robust among individuals with co-morbid psychiatric disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; Coffey et al., 2002; Sharkansy, Brief, Peirce, Meehan, \& Mannix, 1999; Tate, Brown, Unrod, \& Ramo, 2004; Waldrop, Back, Verduin, \& Brady, in press). Likewise, alcohol use may be maintained by a desire to facilitate or prolong positive emotional states (Cooper, Frone, Russell, \& Mudar, 1992; Simpson, 2003). Many psychological interventions for AUDs, most notably the majority of cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) packages, have thus focused on the development of coping skills to prevent relapse in response to such triggers, and have been demonstrated to be at least moderately effective in promoting abstinence (Miller \& Wilbourne, 2002). However, attempts to specify the active ingredients of CBT for AD have been disappointing and most studies examining potential mechanisms of change have failed to find the expected relationships (Longabaugh et al., 2005; Morgenstern \& Longabaugh, 2000). The lack of empirical evidence substantiating coping skills as a mechanism of change for CBT (Morgenstern \& Longabaugh, 2000) may be due, in part, to the lack of specificity in coping skill interventions. Broadly speaking, two primary foci of coping skill interventions for AUD are 1) increasing cognitive techniques focused on challenging and changing thought patterns, or 2) increasing experiential acceptance by fostering an accepting stance towards internal states, such as through "urge surfing" (Kadden et al., 1992). These two coping skill approaches (cognitive restructuring and experiential acceptance) likely lead to reduced alcohol use through different pathways. Theoretically, experiential acceptance approaches suggest that the mechanism of change in decreasing alcohol use is increased willingness toward internal experience (e.g., emotions, thoughts, sensations), whereas cognitive restructuring approaches suggest that decreased alcohol use results from decreases in negative appraisals brought about by challenging and changing thought patterns. However, this has yet to be systematically evaluated.

Conditions

• Alcoholism
• Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
BEHAVIORAL	Experiential acceptance	The experiential acceptance coping condition will focus on changing one's relationship to one's internal events by learning to remain in contact with negative and positive thoughts and feelings and cravings as they are, without defense or judgment or attempting to cling to them (Eifert \& Forsyth, 2005; Hayes, Strosahl, \& Wilson, 1999; Kadden et al., 1992; Levitt, Brown, Orsillo, \& Barlow, 2004).
BEHAVIORAL	Cognitive restructuring	The cognitive restructuring coping condition will focus on how to change the content and frequency of internal events by changing one's thinking patterns (Kadden et al., 1992).
OTHER	No-intervention control: Nutrition information	The no-intervention condition will be taught the plate method, a nutritional servings guideline, which will have no content related to AUD or PTSD, in order to control for time and contact with a research assistant.

Timeline

• Start date: 2009-01-01
• Primary completion: 2012-08-01
• Completion: 2012-08-01
• First posted: 2008-09-26
• Last updated: 2020-08-10
• Results posted: 2020-08-10

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States