Ecological momentary assessment and mediation analyses reveal relationships between affect, craving, and substance use in daily life.

Background And Aims: Craving, the desire to use substances, is a key factor and diagnostic criterion for substance use disorders (SUDs) that predicts substance use. Experiencing affective states, both positive (PA) and negative (NA), are also implicated in SUDs. Yet, the interrelationships among affect, craving, and substance use remain unclear, particularly at the within-person level of analysis.

Combining Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy With Mindfulness Training in a Digital Intervention for Binge Eating Disorder: A Single-Session Pilot Trial.

Objective: Delivering a single-session treatment digitally can offer increased accessibility. We developed and tested a single-session digital intervention for binge-eating disorder (BED) combining cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and mindfulness training.

Method: English-speaking adults who met criteria for BED were recruited nationally.

Comparing the psychometric properties of reward and relief drinking measures.

Previous work examining the extent to which individuals seek alcohol to enhance positive experiences (reward drinking) or relieve aversive states (relief drinking) has shown that reward/relief drinking predicts response to naltrexone and acamprosate treatment for alcohol use disorder. Yet, various measures of reward/relief drinking have been used in prior research, and the comparative psychometric properties of these measures are unknown. Evaluating and comparing the psychometric properties of these reward/relief drinking measures could identify measures with the most promise for translating precision medicine findings to clinical practice.

Examining cocaine use reductions and long-term outcomes in two clinical trials of continuing care for cocaine dependence.

Background: There is a need to identify clinically meaningful non-abstinent endpoints for cocaine use disorder (CUD) clinical trials. In this study, we sought to replicate and extend prior work validating reductions in cocaine use frequency levels as an endpoint by examining associations between reductions in cocaine use frequency and long-term functioning outcomes.

Methods: We conducted a secondary analysis of two randomized clinical trials (N = 445; 77.

Development and initial testing of mindful journey: a digital mindfulness-based intervention for promoting recovery from Substance use disorder.

Background/objectives: There is a great unmet need for accessible adjunctive interventions to promote long-term recovery from substance use disorder (SUD). This study aimed to iteratively develop and test the initial feasibility and acceptability of Mindful Journey, a novel digital mindfulness-based intervention for promoting recovery among individuals with SUD.

Patients/materials: Ten adults receiving outpatient treatment for SUD.

The effect of ten versus twenty minutes of mindfulness meditation on state mindfulness and affect.

We aimed to elucidate the effects of "dose" of a single-session of mindfulness meditation on state mindfulness and affect as well as moderators of effects. 372 adults recruited remotely via Amazon's MTurk platform were randomly assigned to either a: 10-min mindfulness meditation, 20-min mindfulness meditation, 10-min control, or 20-min control. Control conditions were recordings of a National Geographic article.

Randomized trial of mindfulness- and reappraisal-based regulation of craving training among daily cigarette smokers.

Objective: Craving predicts smoking, yet existing interventions may not adequately target regulation of craving. We evaluated two versions of regulation of craving-training (ROC-T), a computerized intervention with intensive practice of strategies when exposed to smoking-related images.

Method: Ninety-two nicotine-dependent daily smokers were randomized to mindfulness-based therapy (MBT) ROC-T focusing on mindful acceptance, and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) ROC-T focusing on reappraisal or no intervention control.

A Pilot Open Trial of a Digital Mindfulness-Based Intervention for Anorexia Nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a chronic and debilitating psychiatric disorder. Unfortunately, current treatments are lacking, with only 30-50% of individuals with AN recovering after treatment. We developed a beta-version of a digital mindfulness-based intervention for AN called Mindful Courage-Beta, which includes: (a) one foundational multimedia module; (b) 10 daily meditation mini-modules; (c) emphasis on a core skill set called the BOAT (Breathe, Observe, Accept, Take a Moment); and (d) brief phone coaching for both technical and motivational support.

Predictors of relapse in eating disorders: A meta-analysis.

Introduction: Eating disorders (EDs) have high rates of relapse. However, it is still not clear which factors are the strongest predictors of ED relapse, and the extent to which predictors of relapse may vary due to study and individual differences.

Objective: We conducted a meta-analysis to quantify and compare which factors predict relapse in EDs and evaluate various potential moderators of these relations (e.

Mindfulness and Eating Disorders: A Network Analysis.

Higher trait mindfulness may be protective against eating disorder (ED) pathology. However, little is understood about which specific mindfulness processes connect to specific ED symptoms. This study (N = 1,056 undergraduates) used network analysis at the symptom/process level to identify: (1) central nodes, or symptoms/processes with the greatest collective connection with all other symptoms/processes; and (2) bridge nodes, or symptoms/processes driving interconnection between mindfulness processes and ED symptoms.

Examining a brief measure and observed cutoff scores to identify reward and relief drinking profiles: Psychometric properties and pharmacotherapy response.

Background: Precision medicine approaches attempt to reduce variability in alcohol use disorder (AUD) outcomes by identifying patient characteristics that predict response to a particular treatment. Recent work has examined the extent to which individuals with AUD may seek alcohol to enhance positive experiences (reward drinking) or relieve negative states (relief drinking) and shown that a high reward/low relief phenotype predicts naltrexone treatment response. Yet, limitations of reward/relief drinking measures may hamper efforts to translate findings to clinical practice.

Real-time fluctuations in mindful awareness, willingness, and values clarity, and their associations with craving and dietary lapse among those seeking weight loss.

Background: Mindful awareness, willingness and values clarity have been examined as protective factors across a wide range of problems, including overweight/obesity. However, these variables have almost exclusively been examined at the trait-level. It is possible that these variables also fluctuate within individuals in daily life, and that these intraindividual fluctuations may in turn be related to food craving and dietary lapse.

Detecting change in psychiatric functioning in clinical trials for cocaine use disorder: sensitivity of the Addiction Severity Index and Brief Symptom Inventory.

Background: Assessment instruments commonly used in clinical trials to measure functional outcomes in substance users may lack sensitivity to detect change during treatment, potentially limiting findings regarding benefits of reduced drug use. This study evaluated the sensitivity of the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) to detect change in psychiatric functioning among cocaine users.

Methods: Data were pooled across five clinical trials for cocaine use disorder (N = 492) that included a 12-week treatment period and 6-month follow-up.

Awareness, affect, and craving during smoking cessation: An experience sampling study.

Objective: Mindfulness has received attention in smoking cessation research, yet the mechanisms by which mindfulness may promote smoking cessation are not well understood. Mindfulness training may help individuals increase awareness and respond skillfully to processes that contribute to smoking, such as affective states and craving. This study used experience sampling (ES) to test how awareness was related to craving, positive and negative affect and smoking, in the moment, among smokers in treatment for smoking cessation.

Within-AUD outpatient treatment heavy drinking transitions and associations with long-term outcomes.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine whether changes in heavy drinking occurring within alcohol treatment predict long-term functioning.

Method: Latent profile analyses were conducted using data from Project MATCH and COMBINE. Observed changes in heavy and nonheavy drinking within consecutive 2-week periods over the respective treatment durations were characterized for each participant and were used to identify latent profiles.

Mindfulness-based interventions for eating disorders: The potential to mobilize multiple associative-learning change mechanisms.

Mindfulness is a two-component skill that includes mindful awareness (attentional monitoring of present moment experience) and mindful acceptance (adopting an attitude of acceptance toward this experience). Although mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are efficacious for many conditions, there is a lack of research on MBIs for eating disorders (EDs). We propose that MBIs may be promising for EDs given their potential to mobilize not one, but multiple associative-learning change mechanisms in EDs-defined as adaptive processes of change involving one of two forms of associative-learning: Pavlovian and operant learning.

Identification and Validation of Distinct Latent Neurodevelopmental Profiles in the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study.

Background: Regardless of the precise mechanism, all neurodevelopmental models of risk assume that, at the population level, there exist subgroups of individuals that share similar patterns of neural function and development-and that these subgroups somehow relate to psychiatric risk. However, the existence of multiple neurodevelopmental subgroups at the population level has not been assessed previously.

Methods: In the current study, cross-validated latent profile analysis was used to test for the presence of empirically derived, brain-based developmental subgroups using functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 6758 individuals (49.

Reward drinking and naltrexone treatment response among young adult heavy drinkers.

Aims: Theory-driven, exploratory study to: (i) identify a reward drinking phenotype in young adults; (ii) evaluate this phenotype as a predictor of naltrexone response; and (iii) examine mechanisms of naltrexone in reward drinkers.

Design: Secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial.

Setting: USA.

Intensive longitudinal methods for studying the role of self-regulation strategies in substance use behavior change.

Purpose Of Review: Many psychosocial interventions for substance use disorders (SUDs) focus on teaching self-regulation strategies. Research using intensive longitudinal methods (ILM), such as ecological momentary assessment and daily diaries, is critical for elucidating if and how these strategies function as mechanisms of change among individuals with SUDs. We review this emerging area of research.

Approach coping and substance use outcomes following mindfulness-based relapse prevention among individuals with negative affect symptomatology.

Objectives: Mindfulness-based relapse prevention (MBRP) for substance use disorders (SUDs) appears to be particularly effective among individuals with high levels of co-occurring affective symptoms. We sought to understand whether changes in approach and avoidance coping may explain the effects of MBRP among this subpopulation.

Method: The sample included 286 individuals with SUDs randomized to MBRP, relapse prevention (RP), or treatment-as-usual (TAU) as an aftercare treatment.

Patterns of transitions between relapse to and remission from heavy drinking over the first year after outpatient alcohol treatment and their relation to long-term outcomes.

Objectives: Studying clinical course after alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment is central to understanding longer-term recovery. This study's two main objectives were to (a) replicate a recent study that identified heterogeneity in patterns of remission from/relapse to heavy drinking during the first year after outpatient treatment in an independent data set and (b) extend these recent findings by testing associations between patterns of remission/relapse and long-term alcohol-related and functioning outcomes.

Method: Latent profile analyses were conducted using data from Project MATCH (N = 952; M age = 38.

Alexithymia and pain experience among patients using methadone-maintenance therapy.

Background: Alexithymia, difficulty identifying and describing one's emotions coupled with a tendency to externalize, is a potentially important yet understudied treatment target for patients with opioid use disorder. The aim of this study was to examine the role of alexithymia in pain experience among individuals with opioid use disorder.

Methods: One-hundred-and-sixty-four patients receiving methadone maintenance treatment completed a battery of self-report measures related to alexithymia, drug use, and pain experiences.