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ResumenLos trastornos por uso de alcohol (TUA) están siendo estudiados empleando distintos paradigmas neurofisiológicos y neuropsicológicos, entre los que se encuentran el paradigma de la respuesta de sobresalto (RS) y la inhibición prepulso (IPP). En este artículo presentamos los resultados que nuestro grupo ha obtenido después de desarrollar varias líneas de investigación en relación a la RS y la IPP en pacientes con TUA. El primer estudio se realizó con 19 pacientes con dependencia de alcohol, a los que se evaluó la RS y la IPP a nivel basal y a los 14 días, después de haber completado de manera satisfactoria el proceso de desintoxicación. El segundo estudio incluyó a 60 pacientes con dependencia de alcohol y que mantenían una abstinencia de al menos un mes, que fueron testados mediante el test de sobresalto y comparados con un grupo control. En el tercer estudio, 40 pacientes procedentes del segundo estudio fueron evaluados mediante pruebas de impulsividad, correlacionando posteriormente las variables de la RS y las variables de impulsividad. Nuestros estudios han demostrado que los pacientes con dependencia de alcohol presentan una menor magnitud de la RS y una alteración de la IPP cuando son comparados con sujetos sanos. Las alteraciones de la IPP son más marcadas cuando los pacientes presentan un consumo activo de alcohol y se encuentran en las fases iniciales del síndrome de abstinencia, tendiendo a recuperarse parcialmente una vez que se ha completado de manera satisfactoria un tratamiento de desintoxicación, aunque en ningún caso se llegan a alcanzar los porcentajes de IPP mostrados por el grupo de controles sanos. Por último, hemos encontrado que los paradigmas de la RS y las variables de impulsividad se correlacionan en pacientes con dependencia de alcohol, pero no es sujetos sanos. Se concluye que el test de la RS y la IPP pueden ser una herramienta útil a la hora de evaluar a pacientes con dependencia de alcohol, pudiendo ser consideradas como variables neurofisiológicas que podrían constituir marcadores de vulnerabilidad para el desarrollo de alcoholismo o bien el reflejo de los efectos neurotóxicos que el alcohol ejerce sobre el sistema nervioso central.AbstractIn recent years, the addictive processes and more specifically Alcohol Use Disorders (AUD) have been studied using different neuropsychological and neurophysiological approaches, including the Startle Response (SR) and the Prepulse Inhibition (PPI). In this article we present the results of three studies carried out by our group. The first study included 19 male patients who had alcohol dependence and were detoxified for a period of 10-14 days, undergoing testing for SR and PPI at baseline and after the detoxification treatment. The second study included 60 abstinent alcoholic men who had been abstinent for more than a month and who were compared with healthy controls. The sample of the third studied included 40 alcohol dependent men, who proceeded from study 2, and who were assessed with laboratory impulsivity paradigms after having been tested on SR and PPI. Our studies have found that alcohol dependent patients exhibit a reduced magnitude of the SR and impairments in the PPI compared to healthy controls. Impairments in the PPI are even more evident when the subject is actively consuming alcohol and during early detoxification, and tend to partially improve after the detoxification process is successfully completed, although percentages of PPI do not reach the levels of healthy controls. Finally, we found that variables of the SR and variables of impulsivity were correlated in abstinent alcohol dependent patients, but not in controls. In conclusion, SR and PPI could be useful tools for the assessment of patients with alcohol dependence. They could either be considered as vulnerability markers for the development of alcohol or be an index of alcohol neurotoxicity in the central nervous system.

El sesgo atencional para el alcohol se ha mostrado útil para identificar a personas con consumo patológico así como a personas dependientes con altas probabilidades de recaída. El objetivo de este trabajo fue validar la versión española del Test Stroop de Alcohol diseñado para evaluar el sesgo atencional en pacientes dependientes del alcohol. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 173 participantes divididos en dos grupos: Un grupo de pacientes (n = 88) cumpliendo criterios de dependencia alcohólica y un grupo control (n = 85) con riesgo bajo de consumo de alcohol, que realizaron el Test de palabras y colores de Stroop (Stroop clásico), el Test de Stroop neutro y el Test de Stroop de Alcohol. Se observaron diferencias estadísticamente significativas en las interferencias para el Stroop Clásico y el Stroop de Alcohol. Los pacientes con dependencia, en comparación a los participantes control, mostraron mayores interferencias para estímulos de contenido alcohólico que para estímulos de contenido neutro. Este efecto fue explicado por un sesgo atencional para información relacionada con el alcohol en pacientes con dependencia. Se calcularon curvas COR, observándose áreas bajo la curva estadísticamente significativas para las interferencias del Stroop clásico y del Stroop de alcohol. Este trabajo sirvió para validar la versión española del Test Stroop de Alcohol para evaluar sesgos atencionales hacia el alcohol en personas con problemas de consumo y dependencia alcohólica.

Aims: Little is known about changes in the modulation of the startle reflex when patients go through an alcohol-dependence treatment in an outpatient facility. In the current study, the affective modulation of the cue-related startle reflex has been used to evaluate changes in the emotional processing of alcohol-related stimuli that occurred after a standard cognitive-behavioral intervention, and to assess the outcome of this intervention. We hypothesized a ‘normalization' of the startle inhibition for the alcohol-related cues during the period of treatment. We also assumed that higher startle inhibition at baseline elicited by alcohol cues would predict the relapse on alcohol consumption during treatment. Participants: A total of 98 alcohol-dependent subjects were included who fulfilled DSM-IV criteria for alcohol dependence. A control group of 72 subjects was selected to match demographic characteristics. Measurements: All patients received a standard cognitive-behavioral therapy once a week throughout the study period. Findings: Results show that the startle response differed significantly after 12 weeks of treatment for alcohol-related, neutral and aversive stimuli between alcohol-dependent patients and controls. Low startle responses at baseline to alcohol cues predicted relapse. Conclusions: These results may indicate that the startle reflex is referred to enduring and permanent processes of cue reactivity, and that the emotional processing of alcohol-associated cues assessed with the affect-modulated startle reflex is less altered by interventions attempting to influence explicit cognitions. Furthermore, lower values of the baseline startle reflex elicited by alcohol-associated stimuli were associated with higher probability of relapse on alcohol use.

The relation between alcohol and jealousy is a deeply rooted belief within the general population as well as in the medical, and particularly psychiatric, environment. Furthermore, in recent years there has been a growing interest on the forensic aspects of pathological jealousy, since they are a frequent cause of severe violence, homicide and suicide. Some authors have described a high prevalence of pathological jealousy in alcoholic patients, even awarding it a pathognomonic value in alcoholism. Nevertheless, recent studies do not completely support this relation, and draw attention to other factors. Results from the various studies contain several definitions and classifications of pathological jealousy, and although most of them highlight the prevalence of jealousy in alcoholic patients, they question its pathognomonic quality. Also, the presence of pathological jealousy in subjects with psychiatric disorders other than alcoholism is suggested, indicating the existence of predisposing and triggering factors which could explain the development of pathological jealousy. Yet, the important methodological difficulties in the published articles and the shortage of studies do not allow the confirmation of the alcoholic etiology in pathological jealousy; this is the reason why considering alcoholic jealousy as a separate entity is debatable. In this sense, the best diagnosis in these patients would be paranoid disorder combined with alcoholic dependence, hence, a dual diagnosis.

Attention bias for alcohol has proved useful to distinguish people with a pathological consumption of people who do not, and dependents who are more likely to fall in consumption. The aim of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the Alcohol Stroop test, designed to evaluate attention biases for alcohol in alcohol-dependent patients. The sample was composed by 173 participants divided into 2 groups: 1) “Patients” (n = 88) meeting criteria for alcohol dependence; and 2) “Control” (n = 85) having a low risk for alcohol consumption, that completed the Stroop color naming Task (Classic Stroop), the Neutral Stroop test and the alcohol Stroop test. Statistically significant differences were found in the interference effects calculated for the Classic and Alcohol Stroop tests. Patients compared to control participants showed a higher interference effect for alcohol-related stimuli than for neutral stimuli. These effects were accounted by an attention bias for alcohol-related information in patients. ROC curves were calculated for the three interference effects, showing an area under the curve statistically significant in the Classic Stroop interference and the Alcohol Stroop interference. This study provides the validation of the Spanish version of the Alcohol Stroop test that allows to evaluate attention biases for alcohol stimuli in individuals with both pathologic alcohol consumption and alcohol dependence.

The relation between alcohol and jealousy is a deeply rooted belief within the general population as well as in the medical, and particularly psychiatric, environment. Furthermore, in recent years there has been a growing interest on the forensic aspects of pathological jealousy, since they are a frequent cause of severe violence, homicide and suicide. Some authors have described a high prevalence of pathological jealousy in alcoholic patients, even awarding it a pathognomonic value in alcoholism. Nevertheless, recent studies do not completely support this relation, and draw attention to other factors. Results from the various studies contain several definitions and classifications of pathological jealousy, and although most of them highlight the prevalence of jealousy in alcoholic patients, they question its pathognomonic quality. Also, the presence of pathological jealousy in subjects with psychiatric disorders other than alcoholism is suggested, indicating the existence of predisposing and triggering factors which could explain the development of pathological jealousy. Yet, the important methodological difficulties in the published articles and the shortage of studies do not allow the confirmation of the alcoholic etiology in pathological jealousy; this is the reason why considering alcoholic jealousy as a separate entity is debatable. In this sense, the best diagnosis in these patients would be paranoid disorder combined with alcoholic dependence, hence, a dual diagnosis.

To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Alcohol, Smoking and Substance Involvement Screening Test (ASSIST) and its effectiveness as a screening tool for problematic alcohol, tobacco and other psychoactive substance use in groups of low, moderate, and high risk users.A test battery including the ASSIST and several standardized screening, assessment, and diagnostic instruments was administered to 485 patients recruited in different primary health-care facilities and specialized addiction treatment units from Health Area 11 in Madrid.ASSIST cut-off scores show a good sensitivity and specificity for discrimination between substance use and abuse and between abuse and dependence. Concurrent validity was demonstrated by significant correlations between ASSIST scores and scores from the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI-Plus), the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), the Revised Fagerstrom Tolerance Questionnaire (RTQ) and the Severity of Dependence Scale (SDS).Psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the ASSIST indicate that is a valid screening test for identifying substance use disorders in various health-care settings.