Metacognitive and Meta-Emotional Styles in Patients With Alcohol and the Other Substance Dependence

BACKGROUND Both alcohol and other substances are utilized for emotional and cognitive regulation. OBJECTIVES The purpose of the present study was to compare metacognitive styles and distress intolerance in patients with alcohol and other substance dependence. PATIENTS AND METHODS According to DSM-IV TR criteria, 45 patients with alcohol dependence (AD), 44 patients with substance dependence (SD), and 43 volunteers without AD or SD (control group) were enrolled. Socio-demographic information form, Distress Tolerance Scale (DTS), and metacognitive questionaire-30 (MCQ-30) were used to evaluate the participants. RESULTS Patients with AD had significantly lower "tolerance" subscale and total DTS scores than those with SD and control group (P = 0.008 for SD sample and P = 0.004 for control group). Patients with SD had significantly higher scores in "appraisal" subscale DTS than control group (P = 0.005). Patients of both AD and SD groups had significantly higher scores in "positive beliefs" subscale of MCQ-30 than control group (P = 0.012 for AD group and P = 0. 001 for SD group). There was no significant difference between AD and SD groups in any MCQ-30 subscale and total scores (P = 0.440). CONCLUSIONS Metacognitive regulation strategies are more considerable prediction than emotional regulation strategies in SD group than in AD group. Individuals with AD use alcohol as a means of both cognitive and emotional regulation strategy.