Suchttherapie 2009; 10 - S714
DOI: 10.1055/s-0029-1240378

Implicit and explicit self-esteem in the outcome prediction of alcohol addiction Treatment

J Lindenmeyer 1, MA Röttger 2, M Rinck 2, E Becker 2
  • 1salus klinik Lindow, Lindow
  • 2Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, HP Nijmegen, Niederlande

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the interplay of implicit self-esteem (ISE) and explicit self-esteem (ESE) and their possible contribution to the prediction of therapy outcome in alcohol dependent patients. Results of several studies have indicated that implicit self-esteem might have an even better buffer function against self-concept threats than explicit self-esteem. Since alcohol dependent patients are often faced with self-concept threats immediately when returning home after discharge of inpatient treatment, it is likely that high implicit self-esteem predicts better short-term therapy outcomes. However, so far the relation between addiction and ISE has not been studied.

Participants: Participants were 70 patients from an inpatient clinic for alcohol treatment with alcohol dependence as the main diagnosis.

Measures: ISE was measured by the Name Letter Preference Task (NLT) and Supraliminal Self-Attitude Priming (SAP), while the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale(RSES) was used to evaluate ESE. Therapy outcome was assessed by follow-up questionnaire of the German Council of Addiction (FVS) according to the protocol of the DGSS.

Method: The NLT, the SAP and the RSES were taken at the beginning and the end of a three-months inpatient alcohol addiction treatment. Follow-up was administered one month after the end of therapy by calling the participants at home.

Findings: We will report on the findings.

Relevance: The findings of the buffer function of implicit self-esteem are promising but yet, implicit self-esteem and its association with addiction have never been investigated. The current study is likely to contribute to the understanding of drug addiction and might have implications for treatment, since implicit self-esteem can be trained (Dijksterhuis, 2004).

Literatur: Dijksterhuis, A. (2004). I like myself but I don’t know why: Enhancing implicit self-esteem by subliminal evaluative conditioning. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86, 345–355.