Below are some thoughts that came to me as a read through
this current journal. I tend to first
reflect on how the results of research relate to basic psychological principles
and secondarily what it means to my main interests and treatment work.
The
relationship between unplanned drinking and event-level alcohol-related
outcomes.
Pages 497-505. Lauher, Miranda L.; Merrill,
Jennifer E.; Boyle, Holly K.; Carey, Kate B. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000553
This article appears to reflect the role
that expectations play in drinking outcomes.
Specifically planned drinking events more clearly define psychosocial
context and will likely have more concrete expectations than non-planned events
and thus prompt higher consumption. This
raises the question of the role that expectations play in planned abstinence and
adherence to the abstinence plan. This
likely has both biological and psychological components for example: cells can
produce a lasting response to a memory or trigger and this can be reinforced by
social influence and impulse in context.
Bidirectional
relationship of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity and
alcohol use over the course of integrated treatment.
Pages 506-511. Tripp, Jessica C.; Worley,
Matthew J.; Straus, Elizabeth; Angkaw, Abigail C.; Trim, Ryan S.; Norman, Sonya
B. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000564
It is not a surprising outcome that alcohol use
increased with severity of PTSD symptoms. All attempts to mask traumatic
experiences ultimately fail as the experiences, as troubling as they may be, are
real and important parts of an individual’s history. Exposure and cognitive therapies work toward
integrating these experiences in a way that an individual can apply meaning and
have the ability to move forward in life.
Alcohol use as a way to “deal” interferes with this process. As with most co-occurring disorders,
substance use and other symptoms interact in reinforcing ways making sequential
treatment mostly ineffective.
Relations among religiosity, age of
self-identification as gay, lesbian, or bisexual, and alcohol use among college
students.
Pages 512-520. Corbin, William R.; Ong,
Thai Q.; Champion, Charlie; Fromme, Kim. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000559
Struggles to reconcile sexual identity and
other elements of identity in a non-hospitable context likely result in adverse
childhood experiences (ACES) that predict adverse outcomes including substance
use difficulties. The author suggests
some strategies that would result in an integration and reformulation of these
experiences that include altering, or integrating into a more hospitable
context that is supportive of a completed identity formulation. As family and the self help community it is
important that people are guided to places where they can receive psychosocial
support outside of therapy as part of their plan.
The new normal: Changes in drinking norms
from college to postcollege life.
Pages 521-531. Hamilton, Hannah R.; Armeli,
Stephen; Litt, Mark; Tennen, Howard. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000562
I think that this really reflects the
research showing how the context and psychosocial factors influence
perceptions, expectations and behavior. This is in line with Stanton Peele’s
extensive work on how social forces influence substance use problems; in other
words, the opioid epidemic is at least in part a societal issue that treatment
cannot fix. Multiple treatments and
relapses are in part a function of one’s inability to extract themselves from a
context and psychosocial influences that drive behaviors outside of consciousness.
The AA self help tradition highlights this in their references to “people,
places and things.”
A web-based episodic specificity and future thinking session
modulates delay discounting in cannabis users.
Pages 532-540. Sofis, Michael J.; Lemley, Shea M.; Lee, Dustin C.; Budney,
Alan J. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000557
Delayed
discounting, the tendency to value more immediate rewards over later, seemingly
more significant rewards, has static trait qualities in that tendencies are
heritable. While this is the case, there
is research, including this article, that suggest that the trait is malleable
and a person’s discounting may differ
dependent upon what they are waiting for, or in the context of other
influences. It may be a consideration of
importance in treatment where the immediate reward of drug use takes precedence
over delayed consequences. This idea is
the basis for contingency management strategies that have proven to be
successful for some. For others interim
rewards that can be viewed as leading back to a larger reward may better serve
the purpose. Scaling interest and
confidence levels on short and long term rewards may help frame these dynamics
and set the stage for appropriate interventions.
Appearance-related
teasing and substance use during early adolescence.
Pages 541-548. Klinck, Melanie; Vannucci,
Anna; Fagle, Tessa; Ohannessian, Christine McCauley. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000563
Not surprising that this form
of bullying results in attempts to cope which include increased alcohol use;
interesting that it did not result in changes in marijuana use. The question that was not answered was what
mitigation strategies might be helpful beyond those of prevention and education
strategies; research on the effectiveness of these programs has been mixed. The larger problem with an individual case is the concurrent task of identity formation
that adolescence involves. Therapy that
helps to tease out the “who I am” can serve to refocus attention on strengths
that can be built upon.
Problematic
social media use is associated with increased risk-aversion after negative
outcomes in the Balloon Analogue Risk Task.
Pages 549-555. Meshi, Dar; Ulusoy, Ezgi;
Özdem-Mertens, Ceylan; Grady, Sara M.; Freestone, David M.; Eden, Allison;
Ellithorpe, Morgan E. https://doi.org/10.1037/adb0000558
Not
sure how to parse this out as it does not appear that the risk challenge was
related to the problematic use analysis directly. One thought is that, given that the challenge
was introduced after the SNS problematic use assessment and that the social
reinforcers that lead to problematic SNS use carried into the risk challenge. In other words, negative feedback in a social
network may lead to moderating responses (risk) in an effort to curry favor in
future interactions, or maintain a perceived desired image. Moderating risk in less risky circumstances
may serve the same purpose when carried over into the risk decision making in
the BART task.
