title: Social cognition and social problem solving abilities in individuals with alcohol use disorder.
abstract: Up to now, little is known about higher order cognitive abilities like social cognition and social problem solving abilities in alcohol-dependent patients. However, impairments in these domains lead to an increased probability for relapse and are thus highly relevant in treatment contexts.
  
  
  
  This cross-sectional study assessed distinct aspects of social cognition and social problem solving in 31 hospitalized patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and 30 matched healthy controls (HC). Three ecologically valid scenario-based tests were used to gauge the ability to infer the mental state of story characters in complicated interpersonal situations, the capacity to select the best problem solving strategy among other less optimal alternatives, and the ability to freely generate appropriate strategies to handle difficult interpersonal conflicts. Standardized tests were used to assess executive function, attention, trait empathy, and memory, and correlations were computed between measures of executive function, attention, trait empathy, and tests of social problem solving.
  
  
  
  AUD patients generated significantly fewer socially sensitive and practically effective solutions for problematic interpersonal situations than the HC group. Furthermore, patients performed significantly worse when asked to select the best alternative among a list of presented alternatives for scenarios containing sarcastic remarks and had significantly more problems to interpret sarcastic remarks in difficult interpersonal situations.
  
  
  
  These specific patterns of impairments should be considered in treatment programs addressing impaired social skills in individuals with AUD.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience , Ruhr-University Bochum , Bochum , Germany.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schmidt
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry , Ruhr-University Bochum, LWL University Hospital , Bochum , Germany.
authors.forename: Patrik
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Roser
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry , Ruhr-University Bochum, LWL University Hospital , Bochum , Germany.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Juckel
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychiatry , Ruhr-University Bochum, LWL University Hospital , Bochum , Germany.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brüne
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience , Ruhr-University Bochum , Bochum , Germany.
authors.forename: Boris
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Suchan
authors.affiliation: a Department of Neuropsychology, Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience , Ruhr-University Bochum , Bochum , Germany.
authors.forename: Patrizia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Thoma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology*; D001288:Attention; D003071:Cognition; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004645:Empathy; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011340:Problem Solving; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception
keywords: Alcohol; Empathy; Mentalizing; Social cognition; Social problem solving