Citation

Wupperman P, Cohen MG, Haller DL, Flom P, Litt LC, Rounsaville BJ. J. Clin. Psychol. (Hoboken) 2015; 71(10): 964-978.

Affiliation

Yale School of Medicine.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1002/jclp.22213

PMID

26287444

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Disorders of behavioral dysregulation often involve more than one dsyregulated behavior (e.g., drug abuse and aggression, alcohol abuse and gambling). The high co-occurrence suggests the need of a transdiagnostic treatment that can be customized to target multiple specific behaviors.

METHOD: The current pilot study compared a 20-week, individual transdiagnostic therapy (mindfulness and modification therapy [MMT]) versus treatment as usual (TAU) in targeting alcohol problems, drug use, physical aggression, and verbal aggression in self-referred women. Assessments were administered at baseline, post-intervention, and 2-month follow-up.

RESULTS: Wilcoxon signed-ranked tests and multilevel modeling showed that MMT (n = 13) displayed (a) significant and large decreases in alcohol/drug use, physical aggression, and verbal aggression; (b) significantly greater decreases in alcohol/drug use and physical aggression than did TAU (n = 8); and (c) minimal-to-no deterioration of effects at follow-up. Both conditions showed significant decreases in verbal aggression, with no statistically significant difference between conditions. MMT also displayed greater improvements in mindfulness.

CONCLUSIONS: Preliminary findings support the feasibility and efficacy of MMT in decreasing multiple dysregulated behaviors.

Language: en