Role of Adverse Childhood Events and Rejection Sensitivity on Alcohol Use in Recently Withdrawn Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder

Plain-language summary

Low utilization of addiction treatment is a public health problem. A number of factors are associated with lack of treatment, including public stigma, self-stigma, and beliefs that people with addiction should solve their problem on their own. Stigma exposes individuals to social rejection, which may sustain the anxiety of rejection, and exacerbate certain mental disorders such as addictions. Social cognition disorders have been shown to be present in addictions, but one dimension of social cognition, emotional sensitivity to rejection (ESR), has been less studied. Rejection sensitivity could be considered a critical element in access to care and the relapse process. The study authors hypothesize a role for emotional dysregulation in rejection situations in the relapse of alcohol use disorder in recently withdrawn patients. Specifically, they hypothesize that participants with a greater change in negative experience after a rejection situation on a Cyberball task, as measured by the negative subscale of the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), will have a higher percentage of days with heavy drinking during the last four weeks to three months of follow-up.

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