Citation

Zaorska J, Skrzeszewski J, Kobyliński P, Trucco EM, Wojnar M, Kopera M, Jakubczyk A. Alcohol Alcohol. 2024; 59(4): agae041.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/alcalc/agae041

PMID

38864292

Abstract

AIMS: The objective of the current study was to describe and analyse associations between childhood emotional abuse, severity of depressive symptoms, and analgesic expectations of drinking in individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD).

METHODS: A total of 240 individuals aged 43.85 ± 11.0 with severe AUD entering an inpatient, abstinence-based, and drug-free treatment program were assessed. The data on AUD severity, depressive symptoms, expectations towards the analgesic effects of alcohol and childhood emotional trauma was collected using questionnaire measures. The PROCESS SPSS macro for serial mediation with bootstrapping was used to test whether current severity of depressive symptoms and expectations towards analgesic effects of alcohol use serially mediated the association between childhood emotional abuse on AUD symptom severity.

RESULTS: There was evidence for two simple mediated effects, whereby the severity of depressive symptoms mediated the association between childhood emotional abuse on AUD symptom severity, and expectations towards analgesic effects of alcohol mediated the association between childhood emotional abuse on AUD symptom severity. There was also evidence to support serial mediation whereby both severity of depressive symptoms and expectations towards analgesic effects of alcohol mediated the association between childhood emotional abuse on AUD symptom severity.

CONCLUSIONS: It might be clinically relevant to address experiences of childhood emotional trauma, as well as individual expectations of analgesic effects of alcohol, in AUD treatment programs.

Language: en

Keywords

Humans; Adult; Female; Male; Middle Aged; Severity of Illness Index; Surveys and Questionnaires; alcohol use disorder; depression; pain; emotional abuse; childhood trauma; expectations; Adverse Childhood Experiences/psychology; *Alcoholism/psychology; *Depression/psychology/drug therapy; Emotional Abuse/psychology