Computerized DBT Skills Training for Suicidal and Heavy Episodic Drinkers

Plain-language summary

Alcohol use is considered to be a significant risk factor among those who die by suicide, especially among those who drink to regulate their emotions. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of treatment outcome research for suicidal heavy drinkers. Further, treatments that target this population must be maximally effective, with promise for wide dissemination. The application of technology has been increasingly utilized as an efficacious and acceptable way to rapidly disseminate evidence-base treatment. However, these methods are used infrequently for individuals deemed too high risk for computerized treatment. Along these lines, the goal of this project is to begin a line of research focused on developing interventions to reduce heavy drinking and risk for suicide through the use of technology. Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) skills training is an effective intervention for behaviors associated with emotion dysregulation including addictive and suicidal behaviors. Further, DBT skills use has been identified as the active ingredient for treatment effectiveness; thus, a skills training intervention delivered via the Internet has the capacity to be a potent and efficient method of treatment delivery. The goal of this research is to establish a proof of concept for developing and evaluating a potentially efficacious and acceptable intervention for heavy episodic drinkers who are suicidal. Specifically, this project proposes to conduct a randomized controlled pilot trial of a computerized DBT skills training intervention for suicidal individuals who engage in heavy episodic drinking (HED) to regulate emotions. The project's aims are to conduct a randomized controlled pilot trial of cDBT vs. a Wait-list control (WL). This pilot trial is not intended to demonstrate that cDBT works better than other interventions in improving clinical indices, but rather to determine whether further revisions of the cDBT intervention are needed and will inform the design of a subsequent full-scale randomized controlled trial.

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