•We describe the compromise of autobiographical memory in Alcohol-Use Disorders (AUD).•This compromise is related to a decline in emotion regulation and executive function.•Autobiographical ...overgenerality and decline of subjective reliving were observed in AUD.•Anterograde amnesia, and negative self-defining memories were observed in AUD.
It has been found that Autobiographical memory (i.e., memory for personal experiences and facts about the self) are not properly maintained in people with alcohol-use disorders (AUD). The present paper offers a comprehensive overview of findings regarding the consequences of AUD on autobiographical memory. More specifically, we offer a theoretical model (the AMAUD Autobiographical Memory and Alcohol Use Disorders model) according to which chronic alcohol consumption compromises emotion regulation as well as executive control, which maintains the construction of autobiographical memory. Compromises in emotional regulation and executive functioning can be linked to a weak aspiration to construct detailed memories (i.e., autobiographical overgenerality), compromises of subjective reliving, anterograde amnesia, negative self-defining memories, and a difficulty to mentally project oneself forward in time to generate complex autobiographical representations and self-images. By gathering cognitive and clinical aspects of autobiographical decline in AUD, this model constitutes a theoretical foundation that may lead to a better understanding of this decline. Different clinical perspectives are proposed for developing personalized autobiographical memory rehabilitation programs for individuals with AUD.
Background
Autobiographical memory (AM) enables the storage and retrieval of life experiences that allow individuals to build their sense of identity. Several AM impairments have been described in ...patients with alcohol abuse disorders without assessing whether such deficits can be recovered. This cross‐sectional study aimed to identify whether the semantic (SAM) and episodic (EAM) dimensions of AM are affected in individuals with alcohol dependence after short‐term abstinence (STA) or long‐term abstinence (LTA). A second aim of this study was to examine the factors that could disrupt the efficiency of semantic and episodic AM (the impact of depression severity, cognitive functions, recent or early traumatic events, and drinking history variables).
Methods
After clinical and cognitive evaluations (alcohol consumption, depression, anxiety, IQ, memory performance), AM was assessed with the Autobiographical Memory Interview in patients with recent (between 4 and 6 weeks) and longer (at least 6 months) abstinence. Participants were asked to retrieve the number and nature of traumatic or painful life experiences in recent or early life periods (using the Childhood Traumatic Events Scale).
Results
The 2 abstinent groups had lower global EAM and SAM scores than the control group. These scores were comparable for both abstinent groups. For childhood events, no significant differences were observed in SAM for both groups compared with control participants. For early adulthood and recent events, both STA and LTA groups had lower scores on both SAM and EAM. Moreover, there was a negative correlation between the length of substance consumption and SAM scores.
Conclusions
This study highlighted a specific AM disorder in both episodic and semantic dimensions. These deficits remained after 6 months of abstinence. This AM impairment may be explained by compromised encoding and consolidation of memories during bouts of drinking.
This study highlighted a specific AM disorder in both episodic (EAM) and semantic (SAM) dimensions of the Autobiographical Memory in alcohol‐dependent patients with short‐ and long‐term abstinence. After 6‐month abstinence, abstinent participants go on having lower global EAM and SAM scores than the control group. Nevertheless, especially for childhood events, no significant differences were observed in SAM for both groups compared to control participants. SAM scores are related to the length of alcohol consumption.
This study examined the difficulties couples face in relation to anorexia nervosa. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis, five couples in which one of the partners lives with anorexia ...nervosa were interviewed separately. The findings are conceptualized into three areas: first, the encounter ‘at the crossroads between remission and relapse’; second, the way that ‘anorexia reveals itself’; and finally, the way the ‘ménage à trois’ works, including the illness fully as part of the couple. Psychotherapists should take into account the context of the couple and the complex interaction between the couple and the illness to support both partners’ development of appropriate responses.
•An improvement in mindful ability was observed after the ART program.•The ART program has a major effect on positive centration, action centration and self-blame.•Its benefits are maintained six ...months after the end of training.•Early abstinent patients are particularly respondent to its effects.•Early delivery of the ART program can potentiate the effect of usual care.
The study aimed to assess whether abstinent individuals with alcohol use disorders (AUD) would benefit from enhanced emotional regulation (ER) strategies using the affect regulation training (ART) program based on weekly sessions comprising psycho-education, muscle and respiratory relaxation, awareness, acceptance and tolerance, compassionate personal support, emotion analysis and modification. Seventy-two participants with AUD benefited from ART and were compared on their ER ability, mindfulness, and their experience of abstinence to 40 participants not receiving the program, before it, at the end, and 6 months after. Improvements in ER were observed, particularly in positive centration, action centration or self-blame and in mindfulness abilities after the program and six months later. In addition, by comparing participants who received the program with a short (<18 months) or long (>18 months) abstinence duration, the results showed a greater decrease in the use of non-adaptive strategies, a greater increase in adaptive strategies and mindfulness abilities in short-term abstinent individuals. These results demonstrate improvement in ER skills after training in people who were abstinent from alcohol. ART is effective for consolidating abstinence and should be used especially at the beginning of withdrawal to promote the rapid implementation of new ER strategies.
Impairments in social cognition have been described as playing a major role in the maintenance of addictive behavior in substance abusers. This study aimed to investigate the Theory of Mind (ToM) ...ability of opiate-dependent (OD) patients and to explore whether TOM ability was correlated with length of substance abuse, age at onset of substance abuse and length of abstinence.
OD patients (N = 29) and non-dependent individuals (NDI) (N = 29) were submitted to the Theory of Mind Assessment Scale (Th.o.m.a.s.), a semi-structured interview, and to the Versailles-Lecture Intentionnelle en Situation (V-LIS), a movie paradigm in which participants have to infer the characters' intentions.
The results confirmed a deficit in ToM ability in OD patients, with OD patients demonstrating poorer performance than NDI on both the V-LIS and the Th.o.m.a.s. The combination of perspective taking and reflecting on others' mental states was particularly difficult for OD patients. Furthermore, impairments in ToM abilities were not correlated with the age at onset of substance abuse or to the duration of substance abuse or abstinence.
The results suggest OD patients may have impaired social cognition, demonstrating deficits in even basic social interaction skills, which may constitute a risk factor for addiction. These findings underline the importance of developing interventions to improve social cognition ability during the rehabilitation of OD patients.
•Theory of mind was evaluated in opioid-dependent patients.•A Theory of Mind deficit was identified in these patients.•The deficit is not linked to the duration of substance abuse or abstinence period.•Theory of mind impairment may constitute a risk factor for addiction.
•We examined sense of reliving and specificity of autobiographical recall in Korsakoff syndrome.•We found discrepancy between (high) sense of reliving and (low) specificity.•We attribute this ...discrepancy to a potential genuine consciousness experience.
We investigated whether patients with Korsakjoff’s Sybdrome (KS) would demonstrate a discrepancy between (low) autobiographical specificity and (high) sense of reliving. We invited 20 KS patients and 24 controls to retrieve personal memories. After memory retrieval, they were invited to rate subjective characteristics of their recall (e.g., reliving, travel in time, remembering, realness). Besides this rating, we analyzed memories objectively with regard to specificity. Analysis demonstrated poorer sense of reliving and memory specificity in KS patients than in controls. Critically, a discrepancy (i.e., higher level of sense of reliving than of specificity) was observed in KS participants but not in controls. We propose a hypothesis of “genuine consciousness experience” in which the discrepancy between sense of reliving and specificity mirrors how KS patients can benefit from an authentic experience of the past despite compromise in their autobiographical recall.
The relationship between childhood trauma and dissociative experiences is widely acknowledged. However, the association between emotion regulation difficulties (ERD), anxiety/depression and ...dissociation in adolescents and young adults with cumulative maltreatment (CM) remains unclear. The present study examined the role of ERD at both intrapersonal and interpersonal levels and anxiety/depression symptoms in the development of psychoform or somatoform dissociation in adolescents and young adults with CM. We assessed 58 participants with CM and 55 participants without childhood trauma history between the age of 12 and 22 years old. Participants completed self-reports of ERD, anxiety/depression, psychoform dissociation and somatoform dissociation. The results revealed that adolescents and young adults exposed to CM displayed high levels of psychoform and somatoform dissociation, ERD and anxiety/depression symptoms. It was also found that intrapersonal and interpersonal ERD predicted psychoform dissociation, whereas anxiety/depression predicted somatoform dissociation in adolescents and young adults with CM. Intrapersonal and interpersonal ERD and anxiety/depression are therapy targets for clinical interventions in adolescents and young adults with CM and dissociative symptoms.
In this exploratory study, we investigated gender differences regarding autobiographical memory in KS.
We invited 33 patients with KS and 35 matched control participants to retrieve autobiographical ...memories and, afterward, to rate mental time travel during retrieval, emotional value and importance of memories.
Analysis demonstrated lower specificity (i.e., lower ability to retrieve memories situated in a specific time and space), mental time travel, and importance in patients with KS compared to control participants. Analysis also demonstrated no significant difference between patients with KS and control participants regarding emotion. Critically, analysis demonstrated no significant differences neither women and men with KS, nor between women and men in the control group, regarding autobiographical specificity, mental time travel, or importance. However, women with KS attributed higher emotional value for memories compared to men with KS, and the same results were observed in the control group.
These findings demonstrate that the higher emotional experience during autobiographical retrieval, as observed in the general population, can also be observed in KS.
•Perspective-taking effects depend upon individual factors such as attachment styles•While adopting a self-perspective, insecure-anxious individuals displayed higher physiological responses than ...secure individuals•Secure individuals who had the highest scores in perspective-taking tendencies displayed the lowest levels of physiological responses when faced with the distress of others
This study examined the effects of attachment styles on physiological responses during a perspective-taking task. Sixty-eight participants were selected according to attachment styles. Physiological responses were assessed using skin conductance responses (SCRs) in the three attachment groups (secure, insecure-anxious and insecure-avoidant) during the presentation of attachment-based pictures (distress, comfort or neutral) in two different perspective-taking conditions: self perspective-taking (i.e. imagine how you would feel in the given situation) or other perspective-taking (i.e. imagine how that person could feel in this situation). In the self perspective-taking condition, insecure-anxious individuals displayed higher SCRs than secure individuals for distress pictures. In the other perspective-taking condition, insecure-anxious individuals showed higher SCRs than secure individuals for comfort pictures. The results also showed a strong negative association between self-reported perspective-taking tendencies and SCRs in secure individuals. The findings suggest that perspective-taking plays an important role in the modulation of physiological responses in reaction to attachment-related pictures, which varies according to attachment styles.
Objectives
The objective of the study was to determine whether family profiles differ between patients with anorexia nervosa or drug dependence disorder.
Method
25 families of patients with anorexia ...nervosa and 26 families of patients with drug dependence disorder responded to a battery of self‐reports (Interpersonal Dependence Inventory, Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales, and Family Questionnaire).
Results
A lack of social self‐confidence was observed in patients with anorexia nervosa or drug dependence disorder and their parents. Family disturbances characterized by low cohesion and emotional reliance on another person were observed in the families of patients with anorexia nervosa or drug dependence disorder.
Conclusions
The present study suggests that there are differing levels of severity of family disturbances among fathers, mothers, and patients in both anorexia nervosa and drug dependence disorder.
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