Search

Impairment in autonomic self‐regulatory functioning reflected by reduced heart rate variability (HRV) is a common feature of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and is believed to heighten AUD relapse risk. However, to date, no study has explored associations between in natura HRV and subsequent alcohol use among individuals seeking AUD recovery. In this study, 42 adults in the first year of a current AUD recovery attempt were monitored for 4 days using ambulatory electrocardiogram, followed by 90 days of alcohol use monitoring using timeline follow‐back. HRV indices (independent variables) reflecting autonomic neurocardiac engagement were calculated from electrocardiogram recordings. Alcohol use (dependent variable) was calculated from timeline follow‐back and expressed as per cent days abstinent (PDA). The sample was 73.81% White/European American, 19.05% Black/African American, 4.76% Asian, and 2.38% Other race/Mixed race. As predicted, higher parasympathetically mediated HRV and lower heart rate were associated with greater PDA over 90‐day follow‐up. Additionally, interactions between these measures and baseline PDA indicated higher parasympathetically mediated HRV and lower heart rate mitigated the deleterious positive association between baseline and follow‐up alcohol use. Including factors known to influence alcohol use and/or HRV in the models did not meaningfully alter their results. Findings are consistent with psychophysiological theories implicating autonomic self‐regulatory functioning in AUD treatment outcomes and suggest that select HRV indices may have utility as indicants of risk for alcohol use lapse in individuals in early AUD recovery. Findings provide theoretical support for HRV Biofeedback for this population, which exercises the psychophysiological systems that support self‐regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Early recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD) is commonly associated with high levels of negative affect, stress, and emotional vulnerability, which confer significant relapse risk. Emotion differentiation—the ability to distinguish between discrete emotions—has been shown to predict relapse after treatment for a drug use disorder, but this relationship has not been explored in individuals recovering from AUD. Methods: The current study used thrice daily random and up to thrice daily self‐initiated ecological momentary assessment surveys (N = 42, observations = 915) to examine whether 1) moments of high affective arousal are characterized by momentary differences in emotion differentiation among individuals in the first year of a current AUD recovery attempt, and 2) individuals' average emotion differentiation would predict subsequent alcohol use measured by the timeline follow‐back over a 3‐month follow‐up period. Results: Multilevel models showed that moments (Level 1) of higher‐than‐average negative affect (p < 0.001) and/or stress (p = 0.033) were characterized by less negative emotion differentiation, while moments of higher‐than‐average positive affect were characterized by greater positive emotion differentiation (p < 0.001). At the between‐person level (Level 2), participants with higher stress overall had lower negative emotion differentiation (p = 0.009). Linear regression showed that average negative, but not positive, emotion differentiation was inversely associated with percent drinking days over the subsequent 3‐month follow‐up period (p = 0.042). Neither form of average emotion differentiation was associated with drinking quantity. Conclusions: We found that for individuals in early AUD recovery, affective states are associated with acute shifts in the capacity for emotion differentiation. Further, we found that average negative emotion differentiation prospectively predicts subsequent alcohol use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Many people who report resolving an alcohol or other drug (AOD) problem continue some level of substance use. Little information exists, however, regarding the prevalence of this resolution pathway, or how continued substance use after resolving an AOD problem, relative to abstinence, relates to functioning, quality of life, and happiness (i.e., well‐being). Greater knowledge of the prevalence and correlates of non‐abstinent AOD problem resolution could inform public health messaging and clinical guidelines, while encouraging substance use goals likely to maximize well‐being and reduce risks. Methods: We analyzed data from a nationally representative sample of individuals who endorsed having resolved an AOD problem (N = 2002). Analyses examined: (1) The prevalence of various substance use statuses coded from lowest to highest risk: (a) continuous abstinence from all AOD since problem resolution; (b) current abstinence from all AOD with some use since problem resolution; (c) current use of a substance reported as a secondary substance; (d) current use of the individual's primary substance only; or, (e) current use of a secondary and primary substance; (2) relationships between substance use status and demographic, clinical, and service use history measures; and (3) the relationship between substance use status and well‐being. Weighted, controlled, regression analyses examined the influence of independent variables on substance use status. Results: (1) Prevalence: In this sample, 20.3% of patients endorsed continuous abstinence; 33.7% endorsed current abstinence; 21.0% endorsed current use of a secondary substance; 16.2% endorsed current use of a primary substance; and 8.8% endorsed current use of both a secondary and a primary substance. (2) Correlates: Lower‐risk substance use status was associated with the initiation of regular substance use at an older age, more years since problem resolution, and fewer lifetime psychiatric diagnoses. (3) Well‐Being: Controlling for pertinent confounds, lower‐risk substance use status was independently associated with greater self‐esteem, happiness, quality of life and functioning, and recovery capital, as well as less psychological distress. Conclusions: About half of Americans who self‐identify as having resolved an AOD problem continue to use AOD in some form. It appears that, although for many abstinence is not necessary to overcome an AOD problem, it is likely to lead to better functioning and greater well‐being. Further, people appear to gravitate toward abstinence/lower risk substance use with greater time since problem resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) is a widely utilized biomarker of autonomic regulatory functioning, and concomitant health and pathological states. A growing body of work is exploring HRV under sleeping conditions. Most of this literature utilizes either averaged HRV indices calculated from multiple sleep stage epochs, or averaged HRV throughout the night. Both approaches implicitly assume that HRV within sleep epoch types is consistent throughout the night. Given the robust literature indicating the existence of an endogenous cardiovascular circadian rhythm as well as the potential for effects for cumulative time asleep, we hypothesized that HRV would vary across distinct sleep epochs.Methods: Participants underwent at least one night of home polysomnography that included electroencephalogram, electromyogram, and electrocardiogram (N = 73). All rapid eye movement (REM) and non-REM stage 2 (N2) sleep epochs with a duration greater than or equal to 5 min were identified for HRV analysis. Time and frequency domain indices of HRV were calculated for each sleep stage epoch. Linear mixed models were used to examine main effects of time on HRV indices for N2 and REM sleeps epochs respectively.Results: Main effects of time were observed for all models. Patterns emerged for both the N2 and REM epochs, suggesting HRV indices are non-stationary (ie variable) across distinct sleep epochs through the course of the night.Conclusions: The present findings indicate HRV is non-stationary across sleep stage epochs. Aggregating HRV indices across sleep stage epochs likely obscures important transient effects and increases risk of type-I and type-II errors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research seeks to articulate the brain structures and pathways implicated in addiction and addiction recovery. Prominent neurobiological models emphasize the interplay between cortical and limbic brain regions as a main driver of addictive processes, but largely do not take into consideration sensory and visceral information streams that link context and state to the brain and behavior. Yet these brain–body information streams would seem to be necessary elements of a comprehensive model of addiction. As a starting point, we describe the overlap between one current model of addiction circuitry and the neural network that not only regulates cardiovascular system activity but also receives feedback from peripheral cardiovascular processes through the baroreflex loop. We highlight the need for neurobiological, molecular, and behavioral studies of neural and peripheral cardiovascular signal integration during the experience of internal states and environmental contexts that drive alcohol and other drug use behaviors. We end with a call for systematic, mechanistic research on the promising, yet largely unexamined benefits to addiction treatment of neuroscience‐informed, adjunctive interventions that target the malleability of the cardiovascular system to alter brain processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Although stress is a well-known predictor of alcohol use lapses among individuals seeking recovery from alcohol use disorder (AUD), most research has relied on retrospective self-report using conventional questionnaires that explore stress effects at the level of the mean. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) overcomes many of the shortcomings of questionnaire-based, retrospective self-report by using real-time, in-the-environment evaluations for the acquisition of ecologically valid data that can also capture stress variability. The present investigation used EMA to disentangle stress effects on alcohol lapses among individuals in the first year of an AUD recovery attempt by exploring associations between mean-level stress, stress variability, and subsequent alcohol use.Method: Participants (N = 42) completed 6 days of EMA monitoring and were then followed up 90 days later to assess alcohol use. Putative associations were explored using hierarchical regression controlling for demographic factors and pre-baseline alcohol use, with percentage days abstinent from alcohol at follow-up as the outcome variable.Results: An interaction effect was observed such that the combination of high mean stress level and high stress variability was associated with the lowest percentage of days abstinent. For those with high mean stress levels, this relationship was attenuated as stress variability decreased.Conclusions: The findings support previous research linking stress to alcohol use lapses; however, these results indicate that the stress/alcohol use relationship is more nuanced than previously described. Our findings suggest that stress variability should also be considered in clinical contexts when assessing risk conferred by mean-level stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aims: Several reports have documented risk factors for opioid use following treatment discharge, yet few have assessed sex differences, and no study has assessed risk using contemporary machine learning approaches. The goal of the present paper was to inform treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD) by exploring individual factors for each sex that are most strongly associated with opioid use following treatment. Design Secondary analysis of Global Appraisal of Individual Needs (GAIN) database with follow‐ups at 3, 6 and 12 months post‐OUD treatment discharge, exploring demographic, psychological and behavioral variables that predict post‐treatment opioid use. Setting One hundred and thity‐seven treatment sites across the United States. Participants: Adolescents (26.9%), young adults (40.8%) and adults (32.3%) in treatment for OUD. The sample (n = 1,126) was 54.9% male, 66.1% white, 20% Hispanic, 9.8% multi‐race/ethnicity, 2.8% African American and 1.3% other. Measurement Primary outcome was latency to opioid use over 1 year following treatment admission. Results: For women, regularized Cox regression indicated that greater withdrawal symptoms [hazard ratio (HR) = 1.31], younger age (HR = 0.88), prior substance use disorder (SUD) treatment (HR = 1.11) and treatment resistance (HR = 1.11) presented the largest hazard for post‐treatment opioid use, while a random survival forest identified and ranked substance use problems [variable importance (VI) = 0.007], criminal justice involvement (VI = 0.006), younger age (VI = 0.005) and greater withdrawal symptoms (VI = 0.004) as the greatest risk factors. For men, Cox regression indicated greater conduct disorder symptoms (HR = 1.34), younger age (HR = 0.76) and multiple SUDs (HR = 1.27) were most strongly associated with post‐treatment opioid use, while a random survival forests ranked younger age (VI = 0.023), greater conduct disorder symptoms (VI = 0.010), having multiple substance use disorders (VI = 0.010) and criminal justice involvement (VI = 0.006) as the greatest risk factors. Conclusion: Risk factors for relapse to opioid use following opioid use disorder treatment appear to be, for women, greater substance use problems and withdrawal symptoms and, for men, younger age and histories of conduct disorder and multiple substance use disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Alcohol and other drug (AOD) use disorders impose a prodigious personal and societal burden. While most remit, little is known about the achievements accrued as people accomplish and sustain addiction recovery. Greater knowledge regarding the nature and prevalence of such achievements, when such achievements occur, what factors influence accrual of achievements, and how such achievements relate to other indices of functioning would support treatment and policy planning, and may instill hope for individuals and families seeking AOD problem resolution.Methods: Nationally representative, cross-sectional survey of United States (US) population of persons who have overcome an AOD problem (N = 2,002), assessing individual factors and achievements in 4 domains: self-improvement; family engagement; civic, and economic participation. Logistic and linear regression models tested theorized associations among variables.Results: Most (80.1%) achieved at least one achievement associated with the 4 domains. A linear monotonic relationship was observed with greater achievements accruing with greater time in recovery. Accrual of achievements after AOD problem resolution was related to racial minority status, more education, earlier age of substance use initiation, illicit drugs as primary substance used, more years since resolving AOD problem, more psychiatric diagnoses, lower psychological distress, and regular 12-step program attendance. Multiple regression analyses found greater total achievements were independently associated with greater self-esteem, happiness, quality of life, and recovery capital.Conclusions: Most individuals achieve an increasing number of achievements with time since AOD problem resolution, and these are associated with gains in measures of well-being that may support ongoing AOD problem remission, and recovery. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The cardiovascular system is disrupted by chronic excessive alcohol use and often impaired in individuals with an alcohol use disorder (AUD). Less is known about cardiovascular recovery when an individual receives treatment for AUD. This observational study aimed to extend the growing body of evidence for cardiovascular biomarkers and intervention targets in the treatment of AUD. We examined cardiovascular function in 92 women before and after 12 weeks of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for AUD. Participants were recruited exclusively from a randomized clinical trial comparing group versus individual CBT treatment strategies (parent study); no control group of untreated, but treatment-seeking women was available. Demographic and drinking data were obtained from the parent study. Cardiovascular data were collected as part of this separate study, prior to and following the clinical trial. Mixed-model analyses revealed multiple within-person cardiovascular changes indicative of improving health from pre- to posttreatment, including reduced heart rate and vessel stiffness as well as increased heart rate variability and baroreflex sensitivity. These significant improvements remained when extent of drinking during treatment was included in the models, suggesting that active ingredients of AUD treatment may serve to benefit physical health over and above drinking reductions. Future studies should assess the time course of cardiovascular recovery during addiction treatment and the mechanisms by which evidence-based AUD treatments may benefit physical as well as mental health. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: While several behavioral interventions have shown efficacy in opioid use disorder treatment, little is known regarding which behavioral interventions work best for youth, and if treatment responses vary by developmental age or sex. We explored latency to first episode of opioid use among adolescents and young adults following opioid use disorder treatment initiation with: (a) adolescent community reinforcement approach (A-CRA), (b) motivational enhancement therapy (MET) combined with cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) or CBT alone (MET/CBT or CBT alone), or (c) treatment as usual (TAU; 12-step facilitation, supportive therapy). Method: Adolescents and young adults (N = 785) entering treatment for opioid use disorder were followed for 1 year. Survival analysis was used to assess variation in latency to first episode of opioid use by treatment received, as well as moderation by age group and sex. Results: Those receiving MET/CBT or CBT alone, and TAU fared better than those receiving A-CRA. For adolescent males, those receiving TAU or A-CRA had poorer outcomes compared with those receiving MET/CBT or CBT alone, while no differences were found between treatments for female adolescents. Female young adults receiving TAU had lower hazard of opioid use compared with those receiving A-CRA, and MET/CBT or CBT alone, and male young adults receiving A-CRA had higher hazard than those receiving TAU, and MET/CBT or CBT alone. Conclusions: Findings highlight different treatments may be more efficacious for youth based on developmental age and sex. Clinicians working with young people with opioid use disorder should consider patients' developmental stage and sex when considering treatment approaches. The present study demonstrated variance in latency to opioid use across three commonly used interventions for opioid use disorder, indicating motivational enhancement therapy combined with cognitive-behavioral therapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy alone, and treatment as usual (i.e., 12-step facilitation, general counseling) outperform adolescent community reinforcement approach. Notably, treatment outcomes varied by age and sex, underscoring the importance of targeted treatments for opioid use disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer recovery support services (PRSS) are increasingly being employed in a range of clinical settings to assist individuals with substance use disorder (SUD) and co-occurring psychological disorders. PRSS are peer-driven mentoring, education, and support ministrations delivered by individuals who, because of their own experience with SUD and SUD recovery, are experientially qualified to support peers currently experiencing SUD and associated problems. This systematic review characterizes the existing experimental, quasi-experimental, single- and multi-group prospective and retrospective, and cross-sectional research on PRSS. Findings to date tentatively speak to the potential of peer supports across a number of SUD treatment settings, as evidenced by positive findings on measures including reduced substance use and SUD relapse rates, improved relationships with treatment providers and social supports, increased treatment retention, and greater treatment satisfaction. These findings, however, should be viewed in light of many null findings to date, as well as significant methodological limitations of the existing literature, including inability to distinguish the effects of peer recovery support from other recovery support activities, heterogeneous populations, inconsistency in the definitions of peer workers and recovery coaches, and lack of any, or appropriate comparison groups. Further, role definitions for PRSS and the complexity of clinical boundaries for peers working in the field represent important implementation challenges presented by this novel class of approaches for SUD management. There remains a need for further rigorous investigation to establish the efficacy, effectiveness, and cost-benefits of PRSS. Ultimately, such research may also help solidify PRSS role definitions, identify optimal training guidelines for peers, and establish for whom and under what conditions PRSS are most effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Difficulty regulating emotion is a cardinal feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD), yet little is known about the automatic psychophysiological processes involved in this phenotype. Inconsistent findings have emerged from studies that employed limited assessments (e.g., heart rate variability, skin conductance) of autonomic nervous system response to emotional contexts, and compared groups based on the presence or absence of BPD as a categorical diagnosis. This exploratory study assessed a comprehensive set of autonomic nervous system processes in 44 individuals (22 with BPD) at rest, in response to emotionally evocative stimuli, and during a subsequent recovery period. BPD was characterized with a dimensional measure of BPD symptom severity, as a well by categorical diagnosis. At baseline and across experimental tasks, higher heart rate was observed in those diagnosed with BPD compared to controls, and in those expressing greater BPD symptom severity. These effects, however, were fully mediated by differences in physical exercise. In contrast, during recovery from emotional activation, greater symptom severity predicted consistently higher levels of multiple sympathetic and parasympathetic processes compared to lower symptom severity. Overall, these findings suggest that the heart rate elevations sometimes observed in those diagnosed with BPD may be associated with individual and group differences in levels of physical exercise. Results further indicate that adaptive psychophysiological recovery responses following emotional challenge may be disrupted in proportion to BPD symptom severity, independently of exercise. Results highlight the utility of considering lifestyle factors and symptom severity in studies of emotional activation and regulation processes in BPD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV BFB) shows promise as an adjunct intervention for individuals receiving treatment for substance use disorder (SUD), potentially due to its capacity to reduce craving and negative affect. The present study sought to examine the utility of integrating HRV biofeedback into a college recovery housing program and gauging its ability to reduce craving and negative affect in young adults in remission from SUD. Forty-six residents of an SUD recovery house at a public university in the northeastern United States took part in a non-randomized controlled trial. The active intervention was 12 weeks of HRV BFB performed over a college semester. The control intervention was a semester-long, waitlist condition. Changes in craving, perceived stress, anxiety, and depressive symptoms were measured across time during the active HRV BFB intervention and compared to changes that occurred during the waitlist period using piecewise regression analyses. Significant reductions in craving were noted during HRV BFB, but not during the waitlist control condition; however, the difference in slopes between conditions was not statistically significant. Levels of self-reported craving, stress, anxiety, and depression varied substantially between participants and across time. The results suggest that use of HRV BFB in the college recovery setting as a tool to help reduce craving warrants further examination, particularly among individuals with elevated craving. Added value of HRV BFB comes from the fact that it can be easily and affordably implemented in everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heart rate variability biofeedback (HRV BFB) is a biobehavioural clinical intervention that is gaining growing empirical support for the treatment of a number of psychological disorders, several of which are highly comorbid with substance use disorders (SUDs). The present article reviews the autonomic nervous system bases of two key processes implicated in the formation and maintenance of addictive pathology—affect dysregulation and craving—and asks if HRV BFB may be an effective intervention to ameliorate autonomic nervous system dysregulation in these processes, and as such, prove to be an effective intervention for SUDs. A detailed description of HRV BFB and its delivery is provided. Preliminary evidence suggests HRV BFB may be an effective addendum to current first-line SUD treatments, though no firm conclusions can be drawn at this time; more research is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Understanding the timing and types of change during treatment for mental health disorders is an important step toward elucidating possible mechanisms of behaviour change in response to therapeutic interventions, yet these issues have not been adequately addressed in the alcohol dependence treatment literature. The current study applied sudden gains (SGs) methodology, an approach originally developed in depression treatment studies, to a sample of women receiving treatment for alcohol use disorders. SGs are drastic improvements in symptoms that occur between two psychotherapy sessions and are hypothesised to be the result of what occurred in the first of those two sessions. SGs can happen at any time during the course of treatment, can happen more than once, and are individualised, as opposed to aggregated for a sample. For the current study, SGs were examined across three variables: percent drinking days (PDD), urge frequency (UF), and urge intensity (UI) in a sample of 102 women receiving either individual or couple cognitive-behavioural therapy for alcohol use disorders. Results indicated the presence of SGs; one-third of the sample experienced at least one SG in either alcohol use or urges to drink; the most common SGs were in frequency of urges to drink. SGs in urge frequency during treatment predicted better post-treatment drinking outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The impending shift in the fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders from categorical to a hybrid categorical-dimensional diagnosis scheme has generated considerable interest in the relative merits of these respective approaches. This is particularly true for the diagnostically complex category of personality disorders (PDs). The present study assessed whether categorical or dimensional measures better predicted alcohol consumption in a sample of 102 women enrolled in a clinical trial comparing individual cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to conjoint CBT for alcohol use disorders (AUDs). Linear regression was used to evaluate whether each PD diagnosis (categorical), or the number of PD symptoms endorsed per PD (dimensional) better predicted percent days drinking over the course of six months of treatment. PD criteria (dimensional) better predicted drinking for Paranoid, Borderline, and Obsessive-Compulsive PDs, while diagnosis (categorical) was a better predictor only for passive-aggressive PD. Both schemes predicted drinking outcomes for avoidant, dependent, and depressive PDs, and neither was predictive for narcissistic PD. These findings suggest that the addition of a dimensional approach for PDs potentially enhances the prediction of alcohol use outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social support is a known predictor of both sexual offender recidivism (Andrews & Bonta, 2010) and client recovery from numerous clinical disorders (Drake, O'Neal, & Wallach, 2008; Schön, Denhov, & Topor, 2009). Interventions that engage social supports have demonstrated positive outcomes in many clinical treatments for a wide range of psychopathologies (Rea et al., 2003; Shimazu et al., 2011), but have not yet been broadly incorporated into forensic practice. Furthermore, some criminogenic risk assessment measures do not routinely seek collateral information from social supports, despite the benefits of doing so (Bonta, 2002; Dören, 2004). This article reviews extant work, and proposes a methodology--Assessment and Support Consultation (ASC)--aimed at bringing support systems into the sexual offender assessment and treatment milieu. Aims for this model and suggestions for its development and implementation are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systems theory has long been used in psychology, biology, and sociology. This paper applies newer methods of control systems modeling for assessing system stability in health and disease. Control systems can be characterized as open or closed systems with feedback loops. Feedback produces oscillatory activity, and the complexity of naturally occurring oscillatory patterns reflects the multiplicity of feedback mechanisms, such that many mechanisms operate simultaneously to control the system. Unstable systems, often associated with poor health, are characterized by absence of oscillation, random noise, or a very simple pattern of oscillation. This modeling approach can be applied to a diverse range of phenomena, including cardiovascular and brain activity, mood and thermal regulation, and social system stability. External system stressors such as disease, psychological stress, injury, or interpersonal conflict may perturb a system, yet simultaneously stimulate oscillatory processes and exercise control mechanisms. Resonance can occur in systems with negative feedback loops, causing high-amplitude oscillations at a single frequency. Resonance effects can be used to strengthen modulatory oscillations, but may obscure other information and control mechanisms, and weaken system stability. Positive as well as negative feedback loops are important for system function and stability. Examples are presented of oscillatory processes in heart rate variability, and regulation of autonomic, thermal, pancreatic and central nervous system processes, as well as in social/organizational systems such as marriages and business organizations. Resonance in negative feedback loops can help stimulate oscillations and exercise control reflexes, but also can deprive the system of important information. Empirical hypotheses derived from this approach are presented, including that moderate stress may enhance health and functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cannabis use and depressive disorders are thought to impair cognitive performance and psychosocial functioning. Both disorders co-occurring may compound the negative effects of these diagnoses. In this study, the authors used the California Computerized Assessment Package as the cognitive performance measure and the Addiction Severity Index as the psychosocial functioning measure to compare individuals who were cannabis dependent and either depressed or not depressed (N= 108: 54 cannabis dependent only, 54 cannabis dependent and depressed or dysthymic). As predicted, cannabis dependent individuals with comorbid depression showed more psychosocial impairment than individuals with cannabis dependence alone. However, contrary to the authors' hypothesis, individuals who were cannabis dependent with comorbid depression showed less cognitive impairment in some California Computerized Assessment Package modules than individuals with cannabis dependence alone. Based on the authors' results, they concluded that the additive effects of cannabis dependency and depression may only be limited to psychosocial domains and may not extend to cognitive functioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]