Coping skills and treatment outcomes in cognitive-behavioral and interactional group therapy for alcoholism.

Abstract

In the present study 128 alcohol dependent men and women received 26 weeks of group treatment in one of two modalities: Cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) intended specifically to develop coping skills or interactional therapy intended to examine interpersonal relationships. Coping skills and drinking were assessed prior to and after treatment and up to 18 months after intake. Results indicated that both treatments yielded very good drinking outcomes throughout the follow-up period. Increased coping skills was a significant predictor of outcome. However, neither treatment effected greater increases in coping than the other. Specific coping-skills training was not essential for increasing the use of coping skills. The results raise questions about the efficacy of specific treatment elements of CBT in treatment of alcohol dependence.

Theory-based active ingredients of effective treatments for substance use disorders

“…CBT and alternative treatments that do not explicitly focus on teaching coping skills (such as MET, TSF, and interaction-focused group treatment) tend to be equally effective in increasing self-efficacy and alcohol-specific and general coping skills (e.g., see Litt et al, 2003). For example, in the Marijuana Treatment Project, a combined CBT and MET intervention devoted five sessions to teaching coping skills, but was no better at improving coping than was MET alone.…”

“…Changes in these domains in CBT foreshadow better substance use outcomes; however, the relationships are not very strong (Brown et al, 2002;Goldbeck et al, 1997;Haaga et al, 2006;Johnson et al, 2006;Litt et al, 2003;. The comparable outcomes of CBT and other treatments likely are due to comparable active ingredients; treatments other than CBT enhance self-efficacy and coping skills and CBT relies in part on traditional social norms and role models and on increasing patients' involvement in rewarding educational and work pursuits (Morgenstern and Longabaugh, 2000;Morgenstern and McCrady, 1992).…”

Role of social support and self-efficacy in treatment outcomes among clients with co-occurring disorders☆

“…In one study, abstinence self-efficacy was the best predictor of post-treatment abstinence for both alcohol and drug use (Ilgen et al, 2005). Research suggests that there is a critical period at baseline for individuals with a high self-efficacy to change (Burleson and Kaminer, 2005;Litt et al, 2003). This suggests the importance of cultivating the resources that individuals have when initially entering treatment.…”

Coping strategies as a mediator of internet-delivered psychosocial treatment: Secondary analysis from a NIDA CTN multisite effectiveness trial

“…Coping strategies were measured at baseline, at the end of treatment (week 12), and at 3 and 6 months posttreatment using the brief version of the Coping Strategies Scale (CSS). The CSS is a selfreport tool (adapted from the Process of Change Questionnaire (Prochaska et al, 1988)) that was originally developed by Litt and colleagues to assess change processes and skills used in modifying alcohol use behaviour, such as problem solving and dealing with urges to use alcohol (Litt et al, 2003). A shortened version of the tool was developed to evaluate the utilization of coping skills among marijuana users (Litt et al, 2012).…”

“…Although many forms of behavioral therapy focus primarily on coping skills training, evidence supporting the role of coping strategies in the effectiveness of such therapies are mixed (Kadden, 2001;Kiluk et al, 2010;Litt et al, 2003;Morgenstern and Longabaugh, 2000). A review of ten clinical studies conducted among patients receiving Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for treatment of substance use disorder found little support for the role of coping skills in treatment efficacy (Morgenstern and Longabaugh, 2000).…”