None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Alcohol Use Disorder’s (AUD’s) are a growing burden on Australia’s health care system due to associated cardiovascular and gastrointestinal disease, cognitive deficits, insomnia, suicide and other drug abuse, and have illustrated significant co-morbidity with anxiety. Additionally, anxiety is a strong motive for self-medication with further alcohol use, especially during initial detoxification. A major obstacle in AUD treatment is the significant delay in access to treatment, and motivating patients to continue treatment throughout alcohol detoxification and its associated anxiety. The effectiveness of a self directed cognitive behavioural therapy booklet allowing immediate access to treatment to manage anxiety during AUD treatment will be tested in the current study.
Interventions
A self-directed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) booklet based on CBT techniques/exercises/information derived from basic CBT methods that have been utilised in the past and have been proven in their reliability and validity (Beck 1963; Greenberger and Padesky 1995; von Wietersheim, Scheib et al. 2001; Leahy 2003). The booklet itself for managing anxiety during treatment for alcohol dependence was developed as part of an Honours project at the University of South Australia.
The booklet consi
A self-directed Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) booklet based on CBT techniques/exercises/information derived from basic CBT methods that have been utilised in the past and have been proven in their reliability and validity (Beck 1963; Greenberger and Padesky 1995; von Wietersheim, Scheib et al. 2001; Leahy 2003). The booklet itself for managing anxiety during treatment for alcohol dependence was developed as part of an Honours project at the University of South Australia. The booklet consists of 4 CBT exercises to be completed over 4 weeks (1 exercise per week). The first weeks exercise is title "Understand your thinking" and introduces the basic concepts of CBT and turnging unhelpful thoughts in to helpful thoughts. Pariticpants are asked to record information about situations that make them feel stressed and to think about the events that lead up to the stress, whether or not their thougths are unhelpful and if thie anxiety could have been avoided if theie thoughts were helpful. The second weeks exercise is titled "Confronting fearful situations" and helps the individual to divide their fearful situation in to smaller more manageable stepping stones. The indiviudal then works through their stepping stones until they have worked through them all to confront their fearful situation. Week three is titled "Coping strategies" and helps the individual to practice helpful coping skills instead of unhelpful coping strategies. The final week, week 4 is titled "Learn to be assertive" and helps individuals to be assertive through acknowledging, declining, explaining and suggesting alternative options. Beck, A. T. (1963). "Thinking and Depression. I. Idiosyncratic Content and Cognitive Distortions." Archives of General Psychiatry 9: 324-333. Padesky CA, Greenberger D (1995). Mind Over Mood: Change How You Feel By Changing the Way You Think, The Guilford Press: New York von Wietersheim, J., et al. (2001). "[The effects of psychotherapy on Crohn's disease patients--results of a randomized multicenter study]." Psychother Psychosom Med Psychol 51(1): 2-9. Leahy, R. L. (2003). Psychology and the economic mind: Cognitive processes and conceptualization. New York: Springer Publishing Co.
Sponsors
University of South Australia
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
English speaking (participants needed to be able to read the CBT booklet: reading level of 13-15 yr old) Diagnosed as alcohol dependent according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV)
Exclusion criteria
Undergoing physical alcohol withdrawal symptoms. Diagnosed with another serious mental illness besides anxiety (eg schizophrenia, bipolar, severe depression).
Outcome results
None listed