1. Alexithymia and Alcohol Dependence: The Roles of Negative Mood and Alcohol Craving
- Author
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Thorberg, Fred Arne, Young, Ross McD, Hasking, Penelope, Lyvers, Michael, Connor, Jason P, London, Edythe D, Huang, Ya-Ling, and Feeney, Gerald FX
- Subjects
Biological Psychology ,Clinical and Health Psychology ,Psychology ,Brain Disorders ,Alcoholism ,Alcohol Use and Health ,Behavioral and Social Science ,Substance Misuse ,Mental Health ,Depression ,Neurosciences ,Clinical Research ,Mental health ,Good Health and Well Being ,Adolescent ,Adult ,Affect ,Affective Symptoms ,Aged ,Alcohol Drinking ,Alcoholism ,Anxiety ,Craving ,Female ,Humans ,Male ,Middle Aged ,Stress ,Psychological ,Young Adult ,Alexithymia ,negative mood ,alcohol craving ,alcohol dependence ,Public Health and Health Services ,Substance Abuse ,Public health ,Applied and developmental psychology ,Clinical and health psychology - Abstract
Background: Alexithymia is a personality trait associated with emotion regulation difficulties. Up to 67% of alcohol-dependent patients in treatment have alexithymia. Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the direct and indirect effects of alexithymia, negative mood (stress, anxiety, and depression) and alcohol craving on alcohol dependence severity. Methods: Three hundred and fifty-five outpatients (mean age = 38.70, SD = 11.00, 244 males, range 18-71 years) undergoing Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for alcohol dependence completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21), Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS), and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) prior to the first treatment session. Results: Alexithymia had an indirect effect on alcohol dependence severity, via both negative mood and alcohol craving (b = 0.03, seb = 0.008, 95% CI: 0.02-0.05). An indirect effect of negative mood on alcohol dependence via alcohol craving was also observed (b = 0.12, seb = 0.03, 95% CI: 0.07-0.16). Conclusions/importance: Alexithymia worked through negative mood and alcohol craving leading to increased alcohol dependence severity, indicating that craving had an indirect effect on the relationship between alexithymia and alcohol dependence severity. Targeting alcohol craving and negative mood for alcohol-dependent patients with alexithymia seems warranted.
- Published
- 2019