Mental state decoding and mental state reasoning in recently detoxified alcohol-dependent individuals

Impaired social cognition has been associated with interpersonal problems and with the development of and relapse into alcohol abuse. In the present study, self-reported trait empathy, decoding of complex mental states and cognitive and affective mental state reasoning were assessed in alcohol-dependent participants, and the association with executive function and psychopathological characteristics was investigated. Twenty recently detoxified alcohol-dependent patients and 20 matched healthy controls were assessed with an abbreviated German version of the interpersonal reactivity index, the revised reading the mind in the eyes test, the faux pas story test, the trail making test and the letter-number-sequencing test. Patients were impaired relative to controls with regard to mental state decoding on the eyes test and showed reduced faux pas detection and impaired mental state reasoning reflected by lower faux pas understanding and faux pas empathy scores. There were no group differences regarding self-reported trait empathy. Performance on the sociocognitive measures was related to executive functioning and the severity of depressive symptoms. Although self-report measures might not always reliably detect impairments of social cognition, behavioural measures suggest pronounced impairments of mental state decoding and mental state reasoning in association with alcohol dependence. Findings ought to be incorporated into current treatment strategies.