Bruce S. Liese

Group cognitive-behavioral therapy for women with PTSD and substance use disorder.

This paper describes a model of group cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for women with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorder (SUD). The need for specialized treatment derives from the high incidence of these comorbid disorders among women as well as from their particular clinical presentation and treatment needs. The treatment educates patients about the two disorders, promotes self-control skills to manage overwhelming affects, teaches functional behaviors that may have deteriorated as a result of the disorders, and provides relapse prevention training. The program draws on educational principles to make it accessible for this population: visual aids, education for the patient role, teaching for generalization, emphasis on structured treatment, testing of acquired knowledge of CBT, affectively engaging themes and materials, and memory enhancement devices.

A Controlled Trial of Bupropion Added to Nicotine Patch and Behavioral Therapy for Smoking Cessation in Adults With Unipolar Depressive Disorders

Although there is a strong relationship between depression and smoking, most nicotine dependence treatment trials exclude depressed smokers. Our objective was to determine whether bupropion improves abstinence rates and abstinence-associated depressive symptoms when added to transdermal nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) and group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in smokers with unipolar depressive disorder (UDD). Adult smokers with current (n = 90) or past (n = 109) UDD were randomly assigned to receive bupropion or placebo added to NRT and CBT for 13 weeks. In the primary analysis, with dropouts considered smokers, 36% (35/97) of those on bupropion and 31% (32/102) on placebo attained biochemically validated 7-day point prevalence abstinence at end of treatment (not significant). Because of a high dropout rate (50%) and a significant difference in abstinence status at dropout by treatment group, a traditional intent-to-treat analysis with last observation carried forward imputation of abstinence status was performed. In this secondary analysis, 56% (54/97) of those on bupropion and 41% (42/102) on placebo met criteria for abstinence at end of trial, &khgr;2 = 4.18, P = 0.04. Nicotine replacement therapy usage and absence of a comorbid anxiety disorder predicted abstinence. Abstinence was associated with increased depressive symptoms, regardless of bupropion treatment. Thus, in the primary analysis, bupropion neither increased the efficacy of intensive group CBT and NRT for smoking cessation in smokers with UDD nor prevented abstinence-associated depressive symptoms. Bupropion seemed to provide an advantage for smoking cessation for those who remained in the trial. The dropout rate was high and was characterized by a higher prevalence of current comorbid anxiety disorder. Given the high abstinence rate achieved with CBT plus NRT, a ceiling effect related to the high level of intervention received by all subjects may have prevented an adequate test of bupropion.

Subtyping Alcoholics by Coexisting Psychiatric Syndromes: Course, Family History, Outcome

This chapter will describe two studies designed to examine the clinical validity of a relatively new method of classifying alcoholics that was derived from a descriptive, syndromatic approach to psychiatric diagnosis. The rationale for the validation studies was based upon an old model of clinical research that has been successfully used in the past to evaluate the diagnostic significance of major syndromes in both medicine and psychiatry. It is suggested that the proposed approach to subtyping alcoholics may be potentially useful to both the practitioner desirous of finding more effective methods of treatment as well as the clinical researcher interested in exploring etiological factors associated with alcoholism.

College student marijuana involvement: Perceptions, use, and consequences across 11 college campuses

BACKGROUND Marijuana is currently the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, and with the movement toward legalization of recreational marijuana, the country faces numerous issues regarding policy, prevention, and treatment of marijuana use. The present study examines the prevalence of marijuana use and consequences and compares users and non-users on a wide range of other marijuana-related constructs among college students across 11 universities. METHOD Participants included 8141 college students recruited from the psychology department participant pools of 11 universities throughout the US, including four major regions of the US (West, South, Midwest, Northeast) and states with varying policies regarding the legality of marijuana use. RESULTS We observed marijuana use rates similar to representative samples of young adults and college students (i.e., 53.3% lifetime marijuana users, 26.2% past month marijuana users). About 1 in 10 past month marijuana users experienced no consequences from their use, whereas nearly 1 in 10 experienced 19 or more consequences. Lifetime marijuana users had more positive perceptions of marijuana compared to non-users on a wide-range of marijuana-related constructs. CONCLUSIONS We report descriptive statistics on a wide range of marijuana-related variables. We hope that these data provide a useful baseline prior to increased legalization of recreational marijuana use. Multi-site studies like this one are needed to study the risky and protective factors for problematic marijuana use. These findings can inform interventions and public policy.

Prenatal predictors of cesarean section due to labor arrest

Cesarean section due to labor arrest occurs because the fetus is too large for the maternal outlet tract. If these women could be identified prior to labor, patient management could be optimized for both the clinician and the woman. A case-control study was designed to identify predictors of Cesarean section due to labor arrest. A five year retrospective review identified 32 cases and 329 controls with complete data for the prenatal maternal variables. Both cases and controls were considered for the stepwise logistic regression model. The prenatal variables predicting Cesarean section due to labor arrest are parity, history of past macrosomia, maternal age, term fundal height and maternal height. This model can be considered a pilot model that can be tested in a large international/i.nter-ethnic population.

Coping with Life-Threatening Illness: A Cognitive Therapy Perspective

For years, behavioral scientists have been examining the process of coping with life-threatening illnesses. In fact, much of the work in this area has been influenced by cognitive-behavioral theories (e.g., Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). The purpose of this article is to apply Beck’s model of cognitive therapy to coping, to discuss specific cognitive processes related to life-threatening illnesses, and to suggest specific interventions appropriate for individuals diagnosed with life-threatening illnesses. AIDS, cancer, and myocardial infarction are discussed in terms of the emotional reactions they may produce (e.g., anxiety, depression, and anger). Cognitive processes related to these emotions are examined and cognitive therapy techniques are suggested for helping individuals with maladaptive emotional and behavioral coping responses.

Teaching psychological knowledge and skills to family physicians

Psychological problems (e.g., anxiety, depression, substance abuse) are prevalent in primary care medical settings. Family physicians (FPs) treat more patients than any other primary care medical specialists. Thus, FPs can play an extremely important role in providing psychological services to their patients. In contrast to other specialists (e.g., internists, obstetricians), FPs are required to complete behavioral science training in their residencies. In this paper, we describe standard undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate training of FPs. We present our unique program for teaching psychological principles and skills to family practice residents at the University of Kansas Medical Center. And finally, we introduce an instrument, the Interview Rating Scale (IRS), for evaluating the interviewing skills of physicians and residents.

Failing to diagnose and failing to treat an addicted client: Two potentially life-threatening clinical errors.

Psychotherapists risk making 2 types of errors with clients who struggle with addictive behaviors: failure to diagnose addictive behaviors and failure to effectively treat addictive behaviors. Given the high prevalence of addictive behaviors in clinical populations, therapists are in a unique position to assist individuals with these problems. It is assumed that therapists possess general diagnostic and treatment skills and yet many do not diagnose or do not treat addictive behaviors. Reasons for making these errors include prohibitive beliefs and limited knowledge about addictive behaviors. We offer specific recommendations to reduce these psychotherapy errors. These include: (a) more deliberate screening and diagnosis of addictive behaviors, (b) increased application of empirically supported addiction treatments, (c) required education and training in addictive behaviors, (d) modification of prohibitive attitudes about addressing addictive behaviors, and (e) increased attention paid to the addictive behaviors by professional psychotherapy organizations.

The Self-perception of Text-message Dependency Scale (STDS): Psychometric update based on a United States sample

ABSTRACT Background: Some have suggested that text messaging is an addictive behavior. However, this characterization is uncertain, partly due to lack of well-validated measures of text messaging attitudes and behaviors. One standard instrument for measuring text messaging attitudes and behaviors is the Self-perception of Text-message Dependency Scale (STDS), though the psychometric properties of this scale have only been examined with a sample of Japanese youth. Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the STDS in the United States to determine its utility as a measure of text messaging dependence. We were interested in examining the factor structure and determining the extent to which this scale would correlate with two important outcome measures: motor vehicle accidents (MVAs) and moving violations. Methods: We analyzed data from 468 adults (age 18–74; 274 women) recruited via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (mTurk) service. Participants completed the STDS and provided information about their driving-related incidents in the past year. Results: First we performed a confirmatory factor analysis, which supported the instrument’s original factor structure. Then we tested the relationship between scores on the STDS and two important variables, MVAs and moving violations. We found that the STDS significantly correlated with both MVAs and moving violations. Conclusion: The present study confirms that the STDS is a potentially useful instrument for studying texting dependence in the United States and with adults of all ages. The instrument may be particularly useful in predicting motor vehicle outcomes.