Project STATE (STress-related Alcohol Thoughts and Emotions)

Summary: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) co-occurs frequently with harmful alcohol use and alcohol use disorder. This presents unique challenges to successful treatment for both trauma symptoms and alcohol outcomes. Indeed, emerging mobile intervention strategies that can adapt to individuals’ fluctuating drinking risks as they go about their daily lives (i.e., just-in-time adaptive interventions) have largely not yet focused on trauma-related drinking risks. This project aims to identify affective alcohol cognitions that underlying decisions to drink in response to trauma-related distress. Such cognitions could be important targets for future just-in-time adaptive interventions.

Funding: This study is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism through a Pathway to Independence Award to Michelle J. Zaso (K99 AA029728).