Clinical Research Directory

Role of Adverse Childhood Events and Rejection Sensitivity on Alcohol Use in Recently Withdrawn Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder

Low utilization of addiction treatment is a public health problem. A number of factors are associated with lack of treatment, including public stigma, self-stigma, and beliefs that people with addiction should solve their problem on their own. Stigma exposes individuals to social rejection, which may sustain the anxiety of rejection, and exacerbate certain mental disorders such as addictions. Social cognition disorders have been shown to be present in addictions, but one dimension of social cognition, emotional sensitivity to rejection (ESR), has been less studied. Rejection sensitivity could be considered a critical element in access to care and the relapse process. The study authors hypothesize a role for emotional dysregulation in rejection situations in the relapse of alcohol use disorder in recently withdrawn patients. Specifically, they hypothesize that participants with a greater change in negative experience after a rejection situation on a Cyberball task, as measured by the negative subscale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), will have a higher percentage of days with heavy drinking during the last four weeks to three months of follow-up.

Effect of Social Isolation on the Role of Pavlovian Mechanisms for Control Over Alcohol Use

During the first funding period (1st FP) we investigated the impact of acute and chronic stress (Trier Social Stress Test, TSST) on Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT). Moreover, we developed a novel full transfer task that allows assessing both general and specific PIT to investigate whether specific PIT differs between alcohol use disorder (AUD) and control subjects. We found that our online version of TSST induced stress and thereby amplified PIT effects in participants. Preliminary analyses of the full transfer task indicate that AUD participants exhibit a stronger specific PIT effect compared to controls. Based on these findings, we want to assess the following aim for this study: Investigate the effect of experimentally induced social exclusion on alcohol-specific and general PIT effects in AUD and control participants.

Experiment Among Smokers in Which Two Variables Are Manipulated: Ostracism and Concealability

The goal of this experimental study is to learn about the effects of ostracism and concealment among adult smokers. The main aims are: 1. Determine the causal consequences of gendered stigmatization. Specifically, do women react more strongly than men to exclusion (as opposed to inclusion) especially when their gender is revealed (as opposed to concealed) for outcomes such as smoking stigma, stress, cognitive depletion, smoking attitudes, and smoking cessation intentions (Study 3)? 2. Examine the moderating roles of cultural context. Specifically, contrasting the cultural context in the US and Denmark (where gender norms are more egalitarian) do Danish smokers show fewer gender differences than US smokers in how they describe and react to their smoking stigmatization experiences (Study 1, 2, and 3)?