Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory, approach-affect and avoidance-affect

Explanatory models and coping with alcohol misuse among conflict-affected men in Ukraine

Affecting nearly 10% of men globally, alcohol use disorders (AUDs) represent a significant public health burden. Existing work, including from Ukraine, suggests that living in conflict settings may exacerbate the risk of AUDs. However, there is a dearth of evidence regarding alcohol misuse, as well as knowledge of factors associated with alcohol misuse patterns, in conflict settings. The aim of this qualitative study was to investigate explanatory models of alcohol misuse among conflict-affected men in Ukraine. Purposive and snowball sampling were used to recruit 66 conflict-affected men with alcohol misuse, family members of men who misuse alcohol, community health workers, and mental health and psychosocial support providers from locations across Ukraine. In the group of men who misuse alcohol (n=25), we recruited individuals with diverse experiences of adversity: 1) internally displaced persons from eastern Ukraine and Crimea displaced after 2014; 2) Ukrainian military veterans or territorial defense volunteers from various regions; and 3) men living 5-15 kilometers from the frontline. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Ukrainian or Russian, and analysed using deductive and inductive analysis. Qualitative data received from each subgroup were analysed separately. The resulting explanatory model represents how Ukrainian conflict-affected men describe causes of alcohol misuse. Participants identified that alcohol misuse among Ukrainian men is often used as "self-treatment" to address mental health symptoms and feelings of demoralization that are exacerbated by a lack of supportive social environments and socio-economic problems; these behaviours also occur in an environment that deems alcohol misuse to be culturally appropriate. Family members and service providers offered a similar understanding of alcohol misuse as the men themselves. Strategies suggested by conflict-affected men to protect against alcohol misuse included engaging in alternative activities, finding supportive social environments, fear of negative consequences from alcohol misuse and increasing self-awareness and self-control. These findings indicate possible implications for interventions that target alcohol misuse among conflict-affected men, as well as demonstrate a need for developing culturally sensitive interventions that can address this unaddressed public health need.

Hereditary and cortical morphological biomarker of sensitivity to reward in short-term withdrawal methamphetamine abusers

Higher sensitivity to reward (SR) and weaker sensitivity to punishment (SP) construct the fundamental craving characteristics of methamphetamine abuse. However, few studies have appraised relationships between SR/SP (SR or SP) and cortical morphological alterations in methamphetamine abusers and whether hereditary factors take effects on SR/SP is unclear. Based on surface-based morphometric analysis, cortical discrepancy was investigated between 38 methamphetamine abusers and 37 healthy controls. Within methamphetamine abusers, correlation profiling was performed to discover associations among aberrant neuroimaging substrates, SR, SP, and craving. According to nine single nucleotide polymorphism sites of dopamine-related genes, we conducted univariate general linear model to find different effects of genotypes on cortical alterations and SR/SP/craving (SR, SP, or craving). Ultimately, mediation analyses were conducted among single nucleotide polymorphism sites, SR/SP/craving, and cortical morphological alterations to discover their association pathways. Compared to healthy controls, thinner cortices in inferior temporal gyrus, lateral orbitofrontal cortex, medial orbitofrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, and lateral occipital cortex in the left hemisphere were found in methamphetamine abusers (P < 0.05, family-wise error corrected). Cortical thickness in the inferior temporal gyrus was negatively correlated with SR scores. We found that rs1800497 A-containing genotypes had lower cortical thickness in the left inferior parietal lobule than the GG genotype. The rs5751876 had effects on SR scores. This study would provide convincing biomarkers for SR in methamphetamine abusers and offer potential genetic targets for personalizing relapse prevention.

Do you feel up when you go up? A pilot study of a virtual reality manic-like mood induction paradigm

OBJECTIVES

In order to understand the working mechanisms of mania, it is necessary to perform studies during the onset of manic (-like) mood states. However, clinical mania is difficult to examine experimentally. A viable method to study manic mood like states is mood induction, but mood induction tasks thus far show variable effectiveness.

METHODS

In this pilot study, a new paradigm to induce mood through virtual reality (VR) is examined. Both state characteristics, namely changes in emotion, and trait characteristics, such as high and low scores on the hypomanic personality scale (HPS), were measured in 65 students. These students participated in either a neutral VR mood induction or an activating VR mood induction in which excitement, goal directedness, and tension (being aspects of mania) were induced. All participants performed a risk-taking behavioural task, Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART).

RESULTS

The experimental VR task induced excitement and tension. In participants with higher sensitivity to hypomanic personality (HPS), irritation increased in response to activation whereas it decreased in the low HPS group, and excitement increased more steeply in the low HPS group. There were no effects on the behavioural task.

CONCLUSIONS

The VR task is effective in inducing relevant state aspects of hypomania and is suitable as a paradigm for future experimental studies. Activation of dual affective states (excitement and tension) is an essential aspect in manic-like mood induction paradigms.

The interplay between parental care and OPRM1 in reward responsiveness

The Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory (RST) explains a variety of reward-motivated behaviors as the result of the activation of biologically-based systems. Inspired by the influences of parental bonding and opioid peptide on reward system, we investigated the contributions of parental bonding and mu-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) towards motivation systems (i.e., the BAS, BIS-anxiety, and FFFS-fear). Results indicated that (1) parental care was negatively related to FFFS-fear, but parental overprotection was positively related to both FFFS-fear and BIS-anxiety; (2) parental care significantly interacted with OPRM1 rs1799971 in reward responsiveness with diathesis-stress model. Poor parental care reduced reward responsiveness among individuals with the G allele, but not those with the AA genotype. These findings from this study demonstrate a new gene-environment interactive mechanism of the RST.