Trial reportAlcoholism, clinical and experimental research2021
Drinking reduction during cognitive behavioral therapy for alcohol use disorder is associated with a reduction in anterior insula-bed nucleus of the stria terminalis resting-state functional connectivity.
Trial report in Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. It is linked to trial NCT06793488 (Neural Mechanisms of Anxiety During Early and Protracted Abstinence in Alcohol Use Disorder), which is not on this map. Cited by 12 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neural Mechanisms of Anxiety During Early and Protracted Abstinence in Alcohol Use Disorder
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Functional magnetic response imaging predictors of alcohol use disorder treatment outcome: a systematic review.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2026Pooled it
- Major depressive disorder is associated with reduced intrinsic connectivity between the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis and ventral striatum.Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN · 2026Article
- A Tragedy of Errors: The State of Psychedelic Research in the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder.Brain sciences · 2025Review
- Sex and sobriety: Human brain structure and function in AUD abstinence.Alcohol (Fayetteville, N.Y.) · 2024Review
- Structural brain changes associated with cocaine use and digital cognitive behavioral therapy in cocaine use disorder treatment.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2024Article
- Neural correlates of drinking reduction during a clinical trial of cognitive behavioral therapy for alcohol use disorder.Alcohol, clinical & experimental research · 2024Article
- The Roles of Endogenous D2R Dopamine and μ-opioid Receptors of the Brain in Alcohol use Disorder.Current medicinal chemistry · 2024Review
- Using lickometry to infer differential contributions of salience network regions during compulsion-like alcohol drinking.Addiction neuroscience · 2023Article
- Alterations in BNST Intrinsic Functional Connectivity in Early Abstinence from Alcohol Use Disorder.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2023Article
- Modeling Aversion Resistant Alcohol Intake in Indiana Alcohol-Preferring (P) Rats.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Low-dissipation optimization of the prefrontal cortex in the -12° head-down tilt position: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study.Frontiers in psychology · 2022Article
- Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with cognitive behavioral therapy treatment in alcohol-dependent patients: A randomized, double-blind sham-controlled multicenter clinical trial.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundConnectivity between the anterior insula (AI) and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) may play a role in negative emotions that drive compulsive drinking in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD). We hypothesized that reductions in drinking during cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), an effective treatment that teaches regulation (coping) skills for managing negative emotions during abstinence, would be associated with reductions in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) between the AI and the BNST.
methodsWe included 18 patients with a Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition diagnosis of AUD who were (1) seeking treatment and (2) drinking heavily at baseline. We measured RSFC as Pearson's correlation between the BNST and multiple regions of interest in the insula at baseline and after completion of 12 weeks of a single-arm clinical trial of outpatient CBT. We also assessed the number of heavy drinking days over the previous 28 days (NHDD) at both time points. We used 1-sample t-tests to evaluate AI-BNST RSFC at baseline, paired t-tests to evaluate changes in AI-BNST RSFC from pre-CBT to post-CBT, and linear regression to evaluate the relationship between changes in AI-BNST RSFC and NHDD.
resultsWe found a significant positive RSFC between the AI and the BNST at baseline (p = 0.0015). While there were no significant changes in AI-BNST RSFC from pre- to post-CBT at the group level (p = 0.42), we found that individual differences in reductions in AI-BNST RSFC from pre- to post-CBT were directly related to reductions in NHDD from pre- to post-CBT (r = 0.73, p = 0.0008).
conclusionsThese findings provide preliminary evidence that reduced AI-BNST RSFC may be a mechanism of drinking reduction in AUD and that AI-BNST RSFC may be a target for CBT and possibly other treatments.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.