Anxiety sensitivity in the association between posttraumatic stress and substance use disorders: A systematic review

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUD) are complex psychiatric conditions that commonly co-occur. No evidence-based, “gold standard” treatments for PTSD/SUD comorbidity are currently available. Thus, it is imperative to better understand cognitive-affective mechanisms, targetable via cognitive-behavioral intervention (i.e., malleable), that may be related to both disorders in order to improve the theory and treatment of PTSD/SUD. Anxiety sensitivity is a malleable cognitive-affective factor with relevance to both PTSD and SUD. This systematic review focused on the published literature on anxiety sensitivity and trauma/PTSD and substance use/SUD from 1966 – May 1, 2018, and includes a total of 35 manuscripts. The state of the literature, limitations, and future research directions are discussed. •Anxiety sensitivity (AS) is a malleable cognitive-affective factor.•AS is related to PTSD and substance use disorders (SUD).•This systematic review summarized the published literature from 1966 – 5/1/2018.•The review includes 35 manuscripts relevant to AS, PTSD, and SUD.•Limitations and future directions are discussed.