News di Alcologia

The effect of rumination on craving across the continuum of drinking behaviour

La ruminazione è una forma di analisi astratta del proprio malessere. Le persone che ruminano cercano di analizzare ripetutamente la propria sofferenza emotiva (es: ansia, depressione) al fine di comprenderne cause e ragioni. Lo scopo è trovare una soluzione e riuscire a stare meglio. La ruminazione però prolunga il disagio e mantiene l’attenzione su segnali negativi.

La ricerca mostra che l’induzione di uno stile di pensiero ruminativo aumenta il livello di craving in pazienti con disturbo di dipendenza da alcool rispetto ad al tentativo di distrarsi dal proprio malessere. Questo effetto è indipendente da caratteristiche di tratto e di personalità e non si manifesta in consumatori di alcool sociali o non cronici. Inoltre questo effetto della ruminazione tende a mantenersi nel tempo anche al termine dell’induzione sperimentale. La tendenza a usare uno stile di pensiero ruminativo ha quindi un impatto causale sull’esperienza di desiderio incontrollato (craving) in una popolazione di individui con dipendenza da alcool.

Highlights
- Rumination is a detrimental cognitive response that may be associated to craving
- We explored the causal impact of rumination on craving across different populations
- Rumination, relative to distraction, increased craving, in alcohol-dependent drinkers
- The effect of rumination was independent of baseline depression and rumination
- The effect of rumination on craving was maintained after a resting phase

Abstract
Background
Rumination is an abstract, persistent, and repetitive thinking style that can be adopted to control negative affect. Recent studies have suggested the role of rumination as direct or indirect cognitive predictor of craving experience in alcohol-related problems.

Aims
The goal of this study was to explore the effect of rumination induction on craving across the continuum of drinking behaviour.

Methods
Participants of three groups of alcohol-dependent drinkers (N = 26), problem drinkers (N = 26) and social drinkers (N = 29) were randomly allocated to two thinking manipulation tasks: distraction versus rumination. Craving was measured before and after manipulation and after a resting phase.

Results
Findings showed that rumination had a significant effect on increasing craving in alcohol-dependent drinkers, relative to distraction, but not in problem and social drinkers. This effect was independent of baseline depression and rumination and was maintained across the resting phase. Conclusions: Rumination showed a direct causal impact on craving that is specific for a population of alcohol-dependent drinkers.

http://www.stateofmind.it/2013/09/the-effect-of-rumination-on-craving-across-the-continuum-of-drinking-behaviour/

(Articolo pubblicato dal CUFRAD sul sito www.alcolnews.it)