Emotional Schemas and Their Relationship with Clinical Characteristics in Patients with Alcohol Dependence

Background: The emotional schemes were closely linked to the resistance to change during cognitive behavioral therapy and emphasized the role of dysfunctional schemes in the resistance to therapy, particularly in anxiety disorders. In this regard, it may be important to clarify the emotional schemes of patients with alcohol dependence who are well-known for their resistance to therapy. Thus, we aimed to determine the dysfunctional emotional schemes and to investigate the relationships between schemas and some clinical features in patients with alcohol dependence.Methods: Sixty patients diagnosed as having alcohol dependence according to the DSM-IV and admitted to inpatient clinic between 2005-2009 for the treatment of withdrawal and 30 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy volunteers were included in the study. The Leahy Emotional Schema Scale for determination of dysfunctional schema, the Scale of Beliefs About Alcohol Request, Relapse Prediction Scale for determination of risk of relapse, as well as the Beck Depression Inventory and the Beck Anxiety Inventory were used. Results: Alcohol-dependent patients scored significantly higher than the control group on "Guilt", "Rumination", "Blame", "Simplistic View of Emotion" and "Duration" emotional sub-schemas. On the other hand, the scores of “Comprehensibility ", "Consensus", "Uncontrollability" and "Feelings of Acceptance" emotional subschemas were found to be significantly lower than those in the control group.Significant associations were observed between the scores of Scale of Beliefs about Alcohol Request and Comprehensibility, Guilty and Blame. In addition, there were significant associations between depression and anxiety severity, Relapse Prediction Scale and some emotional scheme dimensions. Conclusion: Our study indicates that individuals with alcohol dependence have somedifferent maladaptive schemas from healthy controls. In addition, the presence of significant associations between some emotional schemas and depression and anxiety levels, the scores of Relapse Prediction Scale and Scale of Beliefs about Alcohol Request seems to be important. Future prospective and larger sample studies focused on the treatment of addiction in this area may provide meaningful contributions to the etiology and treatment of alcohol dependence. (Archives of Neuropsychiatry 2012; 49: 286-293)