Chronic pain and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are comorbid conditions that share a complex relationship, with evidence suggesting sex affects their link. Preclinical studies suggest female mice drink more under pain conditions, whereas human studies show inconsistent sex effects. This study investigates how sex moderates the relationship between chronic pain and alcohol use. We hypothesized chronic pain to be most associated with alcohol use in females. A sample of 81 treatment-seeking adults with AUD (50M/31F) reported past 3-month chronic pain on the Graded Chronic Pain Scale (GCPS) and completed a Timeline Follow-Back assessing their past 30-day alcohol use by Drinks Per Drinking Day (DPDD). The GCPS measures Pain Disability and Pain Intensity to classify a Pain Grade experienced by an individual. Multiple regressions were conducted between DPDD and 1) pain disability, 2) pain intensity, and 3) pain grade to assess if chronic pain predicted alcohol use while controlling for age and sex. Sex was tested as a moderator. None of the chronic pain indices significantly predicted DPDD (ps>0.05); sex did not significantly moderate the relationships between chronic pain indices and DPDD (ps>0.05). The significance of these results is that chronic pain may not be a primary determinant of drinking behavior in low-pain AUD individuals. Future research should examine pain-driven alcohol use in higher-pain individuals. The significance of this work is that findings may implicate pain management as a new strategy in AUD treatment.

The Hearing Voices Movement (HVM) is an international social movement aimed at reframing the traditional biomedical understanding of voice-hearing. The HVM seeks to adjust widely-held cultural beliefs about fixing or eliminating voices. Rather, it accepts various frameworks of explanation for auditory hallucinations, viewing them as meaningful human experiences. A key feature of the HVM are peer-led support groups, run by “experts by lived experience”, that lack adherence to a predetermined structure. This study will utilize veterans voices and visions support groups, adapted from hearing voices groups under the governing principles of the HVM, to examine the effects on veteran voice-hearers located at the West Los Angeles Veterans Affairs. 3 veteran support groups (N=8, N=8, N=9) were held for 1 hour once a week for 12 weeks. All but 2 veterans attended at least 1 group. Pre-interventional and post-interventional interviews were conducted and qualitative data analysis occurred to code for outcome measures. Possible results would indicate increases in normalization of sensory perceptions, camaraderie through shared experience, confidence in ability to sustain social roles, and reframing of perspectives. A within-group mixed effects analysis is ongoing to obtain quantitative results. Findings may aid in efforts to broaden treatment perspectives for auditory and visual hallucinations, especially for individuals lacking improvement in quality of life through traditional psychiatric methods.

By creating safe, controlled environments to process difficult memories, Virtual Reality therapy can help adolescents and young adults confront and heal from past experiences. This paper explores how this cutting-edge technology is reshaping therapy for victims of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder by examining its connection to Prolonged Exposure therapy and potential benefits for victims of child abuse, war, and traumatic early life experiences.

Loneliness is associated with poorer health outcomes, including increased risk for cardiovascular disease and mortality in older adults. It is also linked to heightened inflammation, a critical pathway in the development and progression of many chronic diseases. Lonelier older adults exhibit exaggerated inflammatory responses to acute social stress, suggesting one potential mechanism linking loneliness to physical health risk. It is not known whether similar associations are detectable earlier in life, particularly among young women. In this study, 54 healthy, cisgender women (ages 18–25) were randomized to an acute psychosocial stressor or a no-stress active control condition and provided blood samples before and 120 minutes after the stressor for assessment of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-6. Participants reported whether they “often feel lonely,” with responses coded as yes (n = 26) or no (n = 28). As previously reported, the stress group showed greater increases in circulating IL-6 compared to controls, β = .25, p = .03. However, this effect was not moderated by loneliness (p = .76). These results suggest loneliness does not amplify the inflammatory response to acute stress in younger women. Further research is needed to determine whether physiological vulnerabilities to stress emerge only later in life among lonely individuals. Alternatively, loneliness that persists into later adulthood may reflect more serious or chronic psychosocial dysfunction that is more strongly linked to physiological risk.

Race can be a social indicator of one’s self-similarity or ingroup. While racial self-similarity is often based on phenotypic differences (e.g., skin color), subtler information conveyed by our body language and movements also influences racial perceptions of others. The present study examines whether such body motion similarity (when an outgroup avatar mirrors a participant’s own movements) improves racial perceptions of outgroups. Using motion capture and 3D rendering, participants’ body movements were mapped onto a racial outgroup (Black) human avatar, matched by sex. In two separate blocks during virtual reality (VR), 34 demographically White participants interacted with an outgroup avatar that displayed either their own motion or a sex-matched stranger’s motion. Implicit bias was assessed before and after each interaction via the Implicit Association Test (IAT). Results on the IAT showed a significant reduction in bias following exposure to the self-motion outgroup avatar, compared to stranger-motion and baseline. No significant difference from baseline was observed for the outgroup avatar with stranger-generated motion. These findings provide initial evidence for body motion similarity as a tool and potential intervention to reduce implicit racial bias.