Citation

Cox WM, Hogan LM, Kristian MR, Race JH. Drug Alcohol Depend. 2002; 68(3): 237-243.

Affiliation

University of Wales, Bangor, Bangor, Wales, UK. m.cox@bangor.ac.uk

Copyright

(Copyright © 2002, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

12393218

Abstract

Alcohol abusers' and non-abusers' attentional distraction for alcohol-related, concern-related, and neutral stimuli was assessed with the emotional Stroop paradigm. Alcohol abusers (n=14) were tested on admission to inpatient treatment and immediately before discharge, 4 weeks later; non-abusers (n=16) were also tested twice, with a 4-week intervening interval. Alcohol abusers were assessed for alcohol use 3 months after discharge. Unlike control participants and alcohol abusers whose treatment was successful, alcohol abusers whose treatment was unsuccessful (who relapsed or did not maintain post-discharge outpatient contact) had a significant increase in attentional distraction for alcohol stimuli during the 4 weeks of inpatient treatment. Compared to control participants and alcohol abusers who completed the 4 weeks of treatment, those who did not complete treatment (n=9) were highly distracted by concern-related stimuli at treatment admission. The results have implications for understanding the cognitive and motivational processes underlying successful treatment for alcohol abuse.

Language: en