title: Alcohol attentional bias as a predictor of alcohol abusers' treatment outcome.
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.
authors.affiliation: University of Wales, Bangor, Bangor, Wales, UK. m.cox@bangor.ac.uk
authors.forename: W Miles
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.forename: Lee M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Hogan
authors.forename: Marc R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Kristian
authors.forename: Julian H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Race
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001288:Attention; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011930:Reaction Time; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires