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.