Cognition in Cocaine Dependence: Assessment & Therapy

描述（由申请人提供）： 药物滥用者中常见的认知障碍可能会降低手动心理治疗的有效性。如果是这样的话，根据患者的需要定制这种治疗方法应该会提高疗效。这个指导临床科学家奖的目标是提高Efrat Aharonovich博士的临床研究技能。通过对认知缺陷的研究和对药物滥用患者的手动心理治疗。2001年，Aharonovich博士加入了该部门的教师，担任精神病学临床心理学助理教授。她对药物滥用患者的认知功能和治疗结果的初步研究为她的认知功能影响治疗结果的假设提供了初步支持。Aharonovich博士是NIDA资助的一项抑郁海洛因成瘾者研究的共同负责人，她将很快获得NIDA的资金，用于对非抑郁可卡因滥用患者的认知缺陷和治疗结果进行探索性研究。然而，要成为一名独立的临床研究人员，Aharonovich博士将需要正式的课程工作，指导，并从她广泛的临床和行政责任中释放时间，以便她可以专注于发展自己的研究。在接下来的几年里，Aharonovich博士计划进行指导性的形成性研究和临床治疗试验，为认知受损的物质滥用者修改行为干预措施。这项研究和额外的培训将使Aharonovich博士做好准备，以实现她的长期研究职业目标，即提高药物滥用患者行为干预的有效性。在Edward Nunes博士和其他哥伦比亚大学教师的赞助和指导下，Aharonovich博士的培训计划将正式课程与临床研究经验相结合。她将与几位导师密切合作，接受以下领域的培训：进行临床治疗试验的方法，药物滥用者的神经心理评估电池，仪器开发，研究设计和解释，以及生物统计学。她的研究计划包括研究认知缺陷对物质滥用患者认知行为疗法（CBT）结果的影响，使用这些信息为认知受损的物质滥用患者量身定制CBT，以及修改后CBT有效性的随机临床试验。结合指导，培训和研究计划将为Aharonovich博士提供独特的培训，并将为她提供发展独立临床研究职业生涯的机会，专注于开发治疗药物滥用障碍的新行为方法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cognitive impairment, commonly found among substance abusers, may reduce the effectiveness of manualized psychosocial treatments. If so, tailoring such treatments to the patients' needs should improve effectiveness. The goal of this mentored clinical scientist award is to enhance the developing clinical research skills of Efrat Aharonovich, Ph.D. through research on cognitive deficits and manualized psychosocial treatments for substance abuse patients. In 2001, Dr. Aharonovich joined the faculty in the Division as Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology in Psychiatry. Her pilot studies on cognitive functioning and treatment outcome in substance abuse patients provide preliminary support for her hypothesis that cognitive functioning affects treatment outcome. Dr. Aharonovich is co-PI on a NIDA-funded study of depressed heroin addicts, and she will shortly receive NIDA funds for an exploratory study of cognitive deficits and treatment outcome in non-depressed cocaine abusing patients. However, to become an independent clinical researcher, Dr. Aharonovich will need formal course work, mentoring, and release of time from her extensive clinical and administrative responsibilities so that she can concentrate on developing her own research. In the next several years, Dr. Aharonovich plans to conduct mentored formative research and clinical treatment trials of behavioral interventions modified for cognitively impaired substance abusers. This research and additional training will prepare Dr. Aharonovich well to meet her long-term research career goal of improving the effectiveness of behavioral interventions for substance abuse patients. Under the sponsorship and guidance of Dr. Edward Nunes, together with other Columbia University faculty, Dr. Aharonovich's training plan combines formal course work with clinical research experience. She will work closely with several preceptors to receive training in the following areas: methods of conducting clinical treatment trials, neuropsychological assessment batteries for substance abusers, instrument development, study design and interpretation, and biostatistics. Her research plan includes a study of the effects of cognitive deficits on the outcome of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in substance abuse patients, the use of this information to tailor CBT for cognitively impaired substance abuse patients, and a randomized clinical trial of the effectiveness of the modified CBT. The combined mentoring, training and research plan will provide Dr. Aharonovich with unique training, and will afford her the opportunity to develop an independent clinical research career focused on the development of new behavioral approaches to the treatment of substance abuse disorders.