Alcohol attentional bias as a predictor of alcohol abusers' treatment outcome

Alcohol abusers' and non-abusers' attentional distraction for alcohol-related, concern-related, and neutral stimuli was assessed with the emotional Stroop paradigm. Alcohol abusers (n = 14) were tested on admission to inpatient treatment and immediately before discharge, 4 weeks later; non-abusers (n = 16) were also tested twice, with a 4-week intervening interval. Alcohol abusers were assessed for alcohol use 3 months after discharge. Unlike control participants and alcohol abusers whose treatment was successful, alcohol abusers whose treatment was unsuccessful (who relapsed or did not maintain post-discharge outpatient contact) had a significant increase in attentional distraction for alcohol stimuli during the 4 weeks of inpatient treatment. Compared to control participants and alcohol abusers who completed the 4 weeks of treatment, those who did not complete treatment (n = 9) were highly distracted by concern-related stimuli at treatment admission. The results have implications for understanding the cognitive and motivational processes underlying successful treatment for alcohol abuse. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.