title: Deficits in emotion-regulation skills predict alcohol use during and after cognitive-behavioral therapy for alcohol dependence.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  As emotion regulation is widely considered to be a primary motive in the misuse of alcohol, our aim in the study was to investigate whether deficits in adaptive emotion-regulation skills maintain alcohol dependence (AD).
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective study investigated whether emotion-regulation skills were associated with AD and whether these skills predicted alcohol use during and after treatment for AD. Participants were 116 individuals treated for AD with cognitive-behavioral therapy. Emotion regulation and severity of AD symptoms were assessed by self-report. Alcohol use during treatment was assessed by Breathalyzer and urine analysis for ethyl glucuronide; alcohol use during the 3-month follow-up interval was assessed by self-report.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Pretreatment emotion-regulation skills predicted alcohol use during treatment, and posttreatment emotion-regulation skills predicted alcohol use at follow-up, even when controlling for other predictors potentially related to emotion regulation. Among a broad range of specific emotion-regulation skills, the ability to tolerate negative emotions was the only skill that negatively predicted subsequent alcohol consumption when controlling for the other skills. Individuals in the AD sample reported significantly larger deficits in emotion-regulation skills than did those in a nonclinical control sample but significantly less than did those in a sample of individuals exclusively meeting criteria for major depressive disorder.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Enhancement of general emotion-regulation skills, especially the ability to tolerate negative emotions, appears to be an important target in the treatment of AD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, University of Marburg, Gutenbergstrasse 18, Marburg, Germany. berking@staff.uni-marburg.de
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berking
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Margraf
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ebert
authors.forename: Peggilee
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Wupperman
authors.forename: Stefan G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Hofmann
authors.forename: Klaus
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Junghanns
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D017831:Diagnosis, Dual (Psychiatry); D004644:Emotions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012008:Recurrence; D016896:Treatment Outcome