Substance Use and Misuse Laboratory - Dr. Sara Dolan

My research is focused on neuropsychological function in persons with substance use and other impulse-control disorders. I am interested in how neuropsychological dysfunction, including problems with memory and executive functions, is related to the etiology of substance use disorders, as well as how these issues affect substance use treatment process and outcome. I am currently conducting research on whether executive dysfunction predicts substance abuse treatment failure in a population of non-psychotic substance-dependent individuals. The hypothesis for this program is that cognitively impaired substance users may have more difficulty acquiring and using the coping skills that they are taught in treatment because those skills may be too complex and abstract.  We are also examining the role of trauma in substance misuse.

A second area of research, which is just beginning, is the diagnosis and treatment of the comorbidity between PTSD and traumatic brain injury (TBI). Because the symptoms and causes of these two disorders overlap to such a degree (for example, a blast injury sustained while serving in Iraq or Afghanistan could cause both of these disorders), the differential diagnosis is not well understood. In addition, once a TBI that may impair cognitive function, including attention, memory, and executive functions, is present, its effects on psychotherapeutic treatment are also not well understood. Our lab is working toward developing an understanding of this complex and all-too-common comorbidity, as well as developing psychological treatments for returning war veterans with the "signature injury" (TBI) of the current conflicts.

I will be accepting a PsyD student for Summer, 2023, to study substance use disorders.