Exploring Attentional Bias toward Alcohol Content: Insights from Eye-Movement Activity.

Introduction: Attentional bias (AB) is an implicit selective attention toward processing disorder-significant information while neglecting other environmental cues. Considerable empirical evidence highlights the clinical implication of AB in the onset and maintenance of substance use disorder. An innovative method to explore direct measures of AB relies on the eye-movement activity using technologies like eye-tracking (ET).

Determinants of Cue-Elicited Alcohol Craving and Perceived Realism in Virtual Reality Environments among Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder.

The identification of variables that can modulate the efficacy of cue exposure using virtual reality (VR) is crucial. This study aimed to explore determinant variables of cue-elicited alcohol craving and perceived realism (PR) of environments and alcoholic beverages during a VR cue-exposure session among alcohol use disorder (AUD) outpatients. A prospective cohort study was conducted amongst 72 outpatients with AUD from a clinical setting.

Attentional Bias, Alcohol Craving, and Anxiety Implications of the Virtual Reality Cue-Exposure Therapy in Severe Alcohol Use Disorder: A Case Report.

: Attentional bias (AB), alcohol craving, and anxiety have important implications in the development and maintenance of alcohol use disorder (AUD). The current study aims to test the effectiveness of a Virtual Reality Cue-Exposure Therapy (VR-CET) to reduce levels of alcohol craving and anxiety and prompt changes in AB toward alcohol content. : A 49-year-old male participated in this study, diagnosed with severe AUD, who also used tobacco and illicit substances on an occasional basis and who made several failed attempts to cease substance misuse.

Predictors of Changes in Alcohol Craving Levels during a Virtual Reality Cue Exposure Treatment among Patients with Alcohol Use Disorder.

Background/objective: Determining the predictive variables associated with levels of alcohol craving can ease the identification of patients who can benefit from treatments. This study aimed to describe changes (improvement or no change/deterioration) in alcohol craving levels and explore the predictors of these changes from admission to discharge in outpatients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) undergoing treatment-as-usual (TAU), or treatment-as-usual supplemented with virtual reality cue-exposure therapy (TAU + VR-CET).

Method: A prospective cohort study was conducted amongst 42 outpatients with AUD (n = 15 TAU + VR-CET and n = 27 TAU) from a clinical setting.

Cue-Elicited Anxiety and Alcohol Craving as Indicators of the Validity of ALCO-VR Software: A Virtual Reality Study.

Background: This study is part of a larger project aiming to develop a virtual reality (VR) software to be implemented as a clinical tool for patients diagnosed with alcohol use disorder (AUD). The study is based on previous research in which we identified factors that elicit craving for alcohol in a sample of AUD patients, and which led to the development of a virtual reality software to be used in cue exposure treatments of alcohol use disorder (ALCO-VR). The main objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of ALCO-VR to elicit cue-induced craving and anxiety responses among social drinkers (SD) and AUD patients.

Identifying Triggers of Alcohol Craving to Develop Effective Virtual Environments for Cue Exposure Therapy.

Many studies have indicated that alcohol craving is a core mechanism in the acquisition, maintenance, and precipitation of relapse in alcohol use disorder (AUD). A common treatment approach in AUD is cue exposure therapy (CET). New technologies like virtual reality (VR) have the potential to enhance the effectiveness of CET by creating realistic scenarios in naturalistic environments.

Temperament and character in transsexuals.

The aim of this study was to evaluate personality in transsexuals. The Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) profiles of 166 male-to-female (MF) and 88 female-to-male (FM) transsexuals were compared with those of a control group of males and females. MF and FM transsexuals scored significantly lower than males and females in RD4 (more independent) and C3 (more self-centeredness).

Predictive factors of abstinence in patients undergoing liver transplantation for alcoholic liver disease.

Introduction: Alcoholic cirrhosis is one of the most common indications for liver transplantation (LT) in western countries. A major concern about transplant patients due to alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is alcoholic recidivism. Data concerning psycho-social characteristics of patients with 6 months of abstinence at initial evaluation for LT is scarce.

[Alcoholic patients hospitalized in a psychiatry unit: mortality at 14 years].

Introduction: Alcoholic patients show a high mortality rate. We know about the increased mortality of outpatients following specialized treatment for alcohol abuse and inpatients with organic diseases related to alcohol, but it is not clear whether alcoholics with a comorbid psychiatric profile also die prematurely.

Objective: To investigate clinical characteristics, therapeutic evolution, survival, and factors that can better predict mortality.

Prevalence of alcohol consumption related disorders in a prison population convicted of crimes against road safety.

Introduction: Alcohol consumption is a major cause of traffic accidents, so that stricter laws have been enacted to avoid it. Despite this, there are still persons who break the law and go to prison because of driving under the effects of alcohol. We have investigated if these persons are occasionally alcohol drinkers or if they are alcoholics with difficult to modify alcohol patterns.

[Assessing coping strategies in alcoholics: Comparison while controlling for personality disorders, cognitive impairment and benzodiazepine misuse].

Introduction: Better coping skills are related to greater capacity for dealing with stressful situations. This relationship could be relevant for the prevention of alcohol-misuse relapse. Relapse rate is higher among severe alcoholics.

[Clinical guideline for the evaluation of liver transplant candidates with addictions].

Liver transplantation is the only effective treatment for advanced cirrhosis. Nevertheless, the number of potential recipients far exceeds that of available donors. Therefore, liver transplant candidates must be carefully selected to optimize donor utilization.

[Personality profile in alcoholic inpatients by TCI questionnaire. Differences between abusers and non abusers of benzodiazepines and between patients with personality disorders and patients without].

Objective: To find differential personality traits, through the TCI questionnaire, between alcoholic patients who abuse benzodiazepines (BZD) and those who do not, and between patients affected by personality disorders (PD) and those not affected. These traits can then be used as criteria of good prognosis and as psychotherapeutic targets.

Methods: Cross-sectional study of 218 alcoholic inpatients, comparing TCI scores between BZD abusers and non-abusers, and between PD-affected patients and non-PD-affected patients.

[Alcohol-dependent patients with benzodiazepine abuse: its relation to personality disorders and neuropsychological impairment].

Background And Objective: Alcohol and drug dependent patients present a higher psychiatric comorbidity, which increases according to the number of drugs. Moreover, there are complications from the treatment and the prognosis is aggravated. We aimed to observe the differences regarding personality disorders (PD) and cognitive deterioration between alcohol dependent patients and patients who were benzodiazepine dependent as well.

[Alcoholism and immigration. Adherence of immigrant patients to group therapy].

Background And Objective: Group therapy (GT) is considered a cornerstone in the treatment of alcohol dependence. Increasing numbers of foreigners are accessing alcohol treatment facilities, but efficacy of TG in those patients has not been studied. This work focuses on the influence of ethnicity and language in the compliance of GT.

[Alcoholism in the general hospital: 4 years mortality and hospitalization].

Background And Objective: We aimed to analyze the mortality, and emergency room and hospital admissions in a sample of alcohol dependent patients during the four years following their identification in a general hospital.

Patients And Method: 198 inpatients from a general hospital who where identified as alcohol dependent and referred during 1998 to the liaison-psychiatry service.

Results: 30.

[Two year follow-up of inpatients with alcohol-related diseases].

Background And Objective: Our objective was to study the outcome and compliance of both medical and alcoholism treatment in alcoholics discharged from a general hospital.

Patients And Method: This was a 2 years prospective follow up study of a cohort of 100 inpatients referred to the Alcohol Unit during the first semester of 1998.

Results: After 2 years, 9 patients had died and 14 had been referred to other hospitals.

[Personality characteristics of alcoholic candidates for liver transplantation].

Background And Objective: Although the characteristics of personality have been scarcely investigated in alcoholic patients who are candidates for liver transplantation (LT), a psychopathological evaluation is necessary in them.

Patients And Method: The personality questionnaire Mini-Mult was administered to 53 alcoholic and 20 non-alcoholic patients who were candidates for LT, and was re-administered to 18 alcoholic and 4 non-alcoholic patients at 1-3 months after LT.

Results: Abnormal values in at least 1 of the 8 clinical Mini-Mult scales were observed in 62% of alcoholic patients.

[Alcoholism in the general hospital: detection and treatment].

Background And Objective: Alcohol is an important factor in hospital admissions. Few publications have studied how alcoholics are handled in hospitals.

Patients And Method: All inpatient referrals (IPC) to our Alcohol Unit (n=212) during 12 months were analyzed.