Cognitive control training for urgency: A pilot randomized controlled trial in an acute clinical sample

Area of Science:

• Clinical Psychology
• Cognitive Neuroscience
• Psychopathology

Background:

• Urgency, a facet of impulsivity linked to psychological disorders, may stem from working memory and response inhibition deficits.
• Previous research indicated cognitive training targeting these deficits can reduce urgency, but its efficacy in clinical settings remained untested.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the feasibility and efficacy of cognitive training for individuals with high urgency in a partial hospitalization program.
• To evaluate cognitive training's impact on urgency and related cognitive functions in a clinical sample.

Main Methods:

• A pilot study involved an open trial (n=20) followed by a randomized controlled trial (RCT; n=46) comparing cognitive training plus treatment as usual (TAU) to TAU alone.
• Intervention feasibility, acceptability, cognitive task performance, urgency, and distress intolerance were evaluated.

Main Results:

• Cognitive training was feasible and acceptable for the clinical sample.
• Participants receiving cognitive training showed significant improvements in cognitive tasks but not in urgency compared to the control group.
• Pooled analyses revealed a significant reduction in distress intolerance in the cognitive training group only.

Conclusions:

• Cognitive training demonstrates potential benefits for reducing distress intolerance in individuals with high urgency.
• Current findings do not support the use of this cognitive training intervention for reducing urgency in acute clinical settings.