{
  "id": 100586,
  "title": "Emotion regulation therapy may help reduce problem alcohol use",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/03/emotion-regulation-therapy-may-help-reduce-problem-alcohol-use",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-08-03T19:40:06.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Medical Xpress",
    "slug": "medical-xpress",
    "url": "https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-emotion-therapy-problem-alcohol.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "A new treatment that focuses on improving emotional regulation in individuals with alcohol use disorder appears to help them reduce their alcohol consumption, according to a recent study. Researchers found that those who underwent cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for alcohol use disorder and also received emotion regulation treatment had a higher percentage of days without alcohol consumption compared to a control group. The study, published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, indicates that emotion regulation treatment could serve as a valuable addition to CBT for individuals who tend to drink heavily in response to negative emotional situations. The outpatient emotion regulation treatment (ERT), which incorporates elements from dialectical behavior therapy, mindfulness-based therapy, and prolonged exposure therapy, was compared to CBT alone in a 12-week study involving 194 adults with moderate-to-severe alcohol use disorder who reported using alcohol to cope with unpleasant emotions. Participants recorded their daily emotional experiences, including cravings and negative emotions, as well as their use of coping and stress-tolerance skills to avoid drinking. Those who received ERT showed more nondrinking days and greater use of effective alcohol-coping skills during the first week of treatment, leading to a higher percentage of abstinent days and fewer heavy-drinking days by the end of treatment. However, the overall impact of the treatment on the percentage of drinking days was relatively small. The findings suggest that the coping skills acquired through emotion regulation treatment were more significant than changes in negative affect or craving when it came to reducing drinking.",
  "summary": "A new treatment designed to improve emotional regulation in people with alcohol use disorder may help them drink less often. In a study of people receiving cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) for alcohol use disorder, those who also received emotion regulation treatment had a greater percentage of nondrinking days. The results, published in Alcohol: Clinical and Experimental Research, suggest that…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}