Experimental and Clinical Pharmacopsychology, Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich, Lenggstrasse 31, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.
Center for Forensic Hair Analysis, Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Kurvenstrasse 17, 8006 Zurich, Switzerland.
Drug Alcohol Depend. 2018 Sep 1;190:94-103. doi: 10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2018.06.001. Epub 2018 Jun 30.
Using more than one psychotropic substance is accompanied by increased risks for psychiatric and physical disorders. Accordingly, deficits in basal cognitive functions have been consistently associated with polysubstance use (PSU), whereas little is known about potential impairments in more complex socio-cognitive skills, which are relevant for daily-life functioning. Therefore, we investigated the effects of toxicological validated stimulant PSU on social cognition under consideration of potential cumulative effects.
We compared socio-cognitive performances of 47 individuals with stimulant PSU with 59 matched stimulant-naïve controls using the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET) and the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC). Additionally, social network size was assessed by the Social Network Questionnaire (SNQ). Hair and urine testing was employed to categorize three PSU subgroups (3, 4, and ≥5 substances used) and to ensure drug abstinence in controls.
Individuals with stimulant PSU showed lower emotional empathy (MET) and a smaller social network (SNQ) compared to controls (both with linear trends for increasing number of used substances: p < .05). In contrast, cognitive empathy (MET and MASC) was largely unaffected by PSU. Additional linear regression analyses within PSU individuals revealed number of used substances as the best predictor for inferior performance in emotional empathy (p < .01), while severity of the use of single substances or substance-classes did not show a significant impact.
These findings demonstrate cumulative adverse effects of stimulant PSU on an important facet of socio-cognitive functioning. Therefore, emotional empathy deficits should be targeted in future interventions and rehabilitations for individuals with PSU.
使用一种以上的精神活性物质会增加精神和身体障碍的风险。因此，基底认知功能缺陷与多药物使用（PSU）密切相关，而对于与日常生活功能相关的更复杂的社会认知技能的潜在损伤知之甚少。因此，我们研究了在考虑潜在累积效应的情况下，经毒物学验证的兴奋剂 PSU 对社会认知的影响。
我们使用多维共情测试（MET）和电影评估社会认知测试（MASC）比较了 47 名兴奋剂 PSU 患者和 59 名匹配的兴奋剂未使用者的社会认知表现。此外，还通过社会网络问卷（SNQ）评估了社会网络规模。毛发和尿液检测用于将 PSU 分为三组（使用 3、4 和≥5 种物质），并确保对照组药物戒断。
与对照组相比，兴奋剂 PSU 患者的情绪共情（MET）和社会网络（SNQ）较低（随着使用物质数量的增加，均呈线性趋势：p<0.05）。相比之下，认知共情（MET 和 MASC）受 PSU 的影响不大。在 PSU 患者中进行的额外线性回归分析表明，使用物质的数量是情绪共情表现较差的最佳预测因素（p<0.01），而单个物质或物质类别的使用严重程度没有显著影响。
这些发现表明，兴奋剂 PSU 对社会认知功能的一个重要方面有累积的不良影响。因此，在未来对 PSU 患者的干预和康复中，应针对情绪共情缺陷进行治疗。
