Selective cocaine-related difficulties in emotional intelligence: relationship to stress and impulse control.

Emotional Intelligence (EI) comprises the ability to perceive, use, understand, and regulate emotions and may potentially contribute to variability in risk-related factors such as stress perception and impulse control in cocaine dependent individuals. The main objective of the current study is to better define EI in cocaine dependent individuals compared with healthy controls, using the Mayer, Salovey, and Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test (MSCEIT). Secondary analysis investigates the association between EI, IQ factors, perceived stress, and impulse control in both populations.

Self-reports of interoceptive responses during stress and drug cue-related experiences in cocaine- and alcohol-dependent individuals.

Cocaine dependence is associated with neuroadaptations in stress and reward pathways that could alter stress and drug-related experiences and associated interoceptive sensations and result in enhanced craving states. Subjective interoceptive emotional and physiological responses experienced in stressful and drug cue situations were examined in abstinent cocaine-dependent individuals. Fifty-six treatment engaged cocaine-dependent patients with comorbid alcohol abuse or dependence were interviewed to identify personal stressful, drug cue, and neutral situations using a scene construction questionnaire (SCQ) that includes an emotional and physiological response checklist.

Interactive effects of cumulative stress and impulsivity on alcohol consumption.

Background: Alcohol addiction may reflect adaptations to stress, reward, and regulatory brain systems. While extensive research has identified both stress and impulsivity as independent risk factors for drinking, few studies have assessed the interactive relationship between stress and impulsivity in terms of hazardous drinking within a community sample of regular drinkers.

Methods: One hundred and thirty regular drinkers (56M/74F) from the local community were assessed for hazardous and harmful patterns of alcohol consumption using the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT).

Mindfulness training and stress reactivity in substance abuse: results from a randomized, controlled stage I pilot study.

Stress is important in substance use disorders (SUDs). Mindfulness training (MT) has shown promise for stress-related maladies. No studies have compared MT to empirically validated treatments for SUDs.

Greater activation of the "default" brain regions predicts stop signal errors.

Previous studies have provided evidence for a role of the medial cortical brain regions in error processing and post-error behavioral adjustment. However, little is known about the neural processes that precede errors. Here in an fMRI study we employ a stop signal task to elicit errors approximately half of the time despite constant behavioral adjustment of the observers (n=40).

Stress-induced and alcohol cue-induced craving in recently abstinent alcohol-dependent individuals.

Background: Research has shown that exposure to stress/negative affect and to alcohol cues can each increase alcohol craving and relapse susceptibility in alcohol-dependent individuals. However, whether the emotional and physiological states associated with stress-induced and alcohol cue-induced craving are comparable has not been well studied. Therefore, this study examined the craving, emotional, and physiological responses to stress and to alcohol cues in treatment-engaged, 4-week abstinent, alcohol-dependent individuals using analogous stress and alcohol cue imagery methods.