Acceptance and commitment therapy for clients institutionalized for severe substance-use disorder: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Individuals with substance-use disorder (SUD) often have co-occurring mental health disorders and decreased executive function, both of which are barriers to sustained rehabilitation. Clients with severe SUD can be institutionalized in The Swedish National Board of Institutional Care but are difficult to engage and dropout rates remain high. Recent studies suggest that acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is an effective treatment for mental health and SUD. OBJECTIVES: The overall aims of the present pilot study were to explore a manual-based ACT intervention for clients institutionalized for severe SUD and to describe the effects on mental health, psychological flexibility, and executive function. This pilot study is the first to use a manual-based ACT intervention within an inpatient context. METHODS: Eighteen participants received a seven-session ACT intervention tailored for SUD. Statistical analyses were performed for the complete data (n=18) and on an individual level of follow-up data for each participant. In order to follow and describe changes, the strategy was to assess the change in 13 clinical scales from pre-intervention to post-intervention. RESULTS: Results suggested that there was no change in mental health and a trend implying positive changes for psychological flexibility and for 9 of 10 executive functions (e.g., inhibitory control, task monitoring, and emotional control). CONCLUSION: The pilot study suggests clinical gains in psychological flexibility and executive functions both at the Institution regulated by the Care of Alcoholics and Drugabuser Act (also known as LVM home) and at the individual level. Since the sample size does not provide adequate statistical power to generalize and to draw firm conclusions concerning intervention effects, findings are descriptive and preliminary in nature. Further development and implementation of ACT on a larger scale study, including the maintenance phase and a follow-up, is needed.

Self-reported sleep lengths ≥ 9 hours among Swedish patients with stress-related exhaustion: Associations with depression, quality of sleep and levels of fatigue.

BACKGROUND: Insomnia-type sleep disturbances are frequent among patients suffering from stress-related exhaustion disorder. However, clinical observations indicate that a subgroup suffer from sleep lengths frequently exceeding 9 hours, coupled with great daytime sleepiness. AIMS: The aim of the present study was to investigate differences in socio-demographic variables, use of medications, sleep parameters, anxiety, depression and fatigue, between individuals with varying sleep lengths, in a sample of 420 Swedish patients (mean age 42 ± 9 years; 77% women) referred to treatment for exhaustion disorder. Patients were allocated to the groups: "never/seldom ≥ 9 hours" (n = 248), "sometimes ≥ 9 hours" (n = 115) and "mostly/always ≥ 9 hours" (n = 57), based on their self-rated frequency of sleep lengths ≥ 9 hours. METHODS: The design was cross-sectional and data was collected by means of questionnaires at pre-treatment. RESULTS: Univariate analyses showed that patients in the "mostly/always ≥ 9 hours" group were more often on sick leave, and reported more depression and fatigue, better sleep quality and more daytime sleepiness, than patients in the other groups. Multivariate analyses showed that these patients scored higher on measures of fatigue than the rest of the sample independently of gender, use of antidepressants, sick leave, depression and quality of sleep. CONCLUSIONS: Patients suffering from exhaustion disorder and reporting excessive sleep seem to have a generally poorer clinical picture but better quality of sleep than their counterparts with shorter sleep lengths. The mechanisms underlying these differences, together with their prognostic value and implications for treatment remain to be elucidated in future studies.

Neuropsychological outcome following near-drowning in ice water: two adult case studies.

Two men, 56 and 33 years old, (case 1 and case 2) were examined neuropsychologically after successful resuscitation from circulatory arrest following extreme accidental hypothermia and near drowning. After submersion in ice water for at least 20 minutes they received CPR for 45 to 60 minutes. Body-core temperature at start of CPB was 24 degrees C and 22 degrees C, respectively. A neuropsychological examination was performed within two months after the accident and 1 year later. An additional follow-up interview was made 3 years after the accidents. Both had severe problems with memory, visuospatial performance, executive function, and verbal fluency. The follow-up demonstrated improvement in the visuospatial test in both and in the verbal learning, recall, and logical reasoning tests in case 2. Both still had problems with executive function, and case 2 also in verbal fluency. Case 1 also had problems with flexibility, planning and abstract ability. Despite the protective effects of hypothermia and gradual improvement of symptoms over time, some of the deficits were permanent. A thorough neuropsychological examination of patients suffered from anoxia is advisable, because gross neurological examination and MRI scans may not always reveal underlying brain dysfunction.