VISN 4 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Am J Drug Alcohol Abuse. 2021 Mar 4;47(2):199-208. doi: 10.1080/00952990.2020.1865997. Epub 2021 Feb 4.
: Episodic future thinking (EFT; i.e., envisioning oneself in future contexts) has been demonstrated to reduce discounting of future reward in healthy adults. While this approach has the potential to support future-oriented decision-making in substance use recovery, the impact of EFT on discounting behavior in illicit stimulant users has not yet been evaluated.: This pilot study aimed to (1) assess the feasibility of utilizing EFT methods in individuals with cocaine use disorder (CUD) and (2) conduct preliminary measurement of the EFT effect on discounting behavior in this population.: Eighteen treatment-seeking individuals with CUD (17 males) were interviewed about positive and neutral events expected to occur at a range of future latencies. Future event information identified by participants was subsequently included on a subset of trials in an intertemporal choice task to promote EFT; within-subject differences in discounting between standard and EFT conditions were evaluated.: Participants identified relevant events and demonstrated decreased discounting of future reward when event descriptors were included (relative to discounting without event descriptors; = .039). It was further noted that most events identified by participants were goals, rather than plans or significant dates.: While methods previously used to study the effect of EFT on discounting behavior in healthy individuals are also effective in individuals with CUD, methodological factors - including types of events identified - should be carefully considered in future work. These preliminary findings suggest that EFT can reduce impulsive decision-making in cocaine use disorder and may therefore have therapeutic value.
: 情节性未来思维（EFT；即想象自己在未来的情境中）已被证明可以减少健康成年人对未来奖励的折扣。虽然这种方法有可能支持物质使用康复中的面向未来的决策，但 EFT 对非法兴奋剂使用者的折扣行为的影响尚未得到评估。: 这项初步研究旨在（1）评估在可卡因使用障碍（CUD）个体中使用 EFT 方法的可行性，以及（2）初步测量 EFT 对该人群折扣行为的影响。: 18 名寻求治疗的可卡因使用障碍患者（17 名男性）接受了关于在一系列未来延迟时间内预期发生的积极和中性事件的访谈。参与者确定的未来事件信息随后被纳入即时选择任务的一系列试验中，以促进 EFT；评估了标准条件和 EFT 条件下折扣率的个体差异。: 参与者确定了相关事件，并在包含事件描述时表现出对未来奖励的折扣减少（与没有事件描述的折扣相比；=0.039）。进一步指出，参与者确定的大多数事件是目标，而不是计划或重要日期。: 虽然之前用于研究 EFT 对健康个体折扣行为影响的方法在 CUD 个体中也有效，但在未来的工作中应仔细考虑方法因素，包括确定的事件类型。这些初步发现表明，EFT 可以减少可卡因使用障碍中的冲动决策，因此可能具有治疗价值。
