Reducing Addiction

Aversion therapy/covert sensitisation.

Aversive, agonist, and antagonist.

Agonist therapy.

Opioid antagonists.

In this drug therapy, drugs act as a substitute for a more harmful type of drug.

This therapy uses drugs that prevent the addict from feeling the effects of their addiction, such as the euphoric feeling that some drugs produce.

In aversion therapy, the addict directly experiences the unpleasant stimulus associated with their addiction. In covert sensitisation, they imagine it.  

It is a CBT method in which the client and therapist identify situations in which the client may be at risk.

Skills training is a method of CBT in which clients are encouraged to replace their addiction with constructive, positive habits and ways of thinking.

Social skills training could help practise refusing alcohol at a social event.

CBT aims to challenge faulty thinking patterns that lead to addiction.

It is a way of treating addiction using medication.

Disulfiram is often used to treat alcoholism by making the addict hypersensitive to alcohol and giving them severe hangovers minutes after drinking.

Nicotine patches.

Naltrexone.

Aversive drugs are used with substance abuse, such as alcoholism or drug addiction. This is because they create a negative response to the substance.

Agonists are essentially drug substitutes. To do this, they bind to neuron receptors and activate them so that the addict experiences a similar effect to the addictive drug.

Antagonists bond and block receptor sites to stop the addict from feeling the pleasurable effects of their addiction (psychological dependence).

Agonist, in the form of nicotine replacement therapy.

Nicotine replacement therapy uses gum, inhalers, or patches to deliver nicotine in a less harmful way than traditional cigarettes. This therapy provides the addict with nicotine in a clean, controlled dose. The brain responds in the same way as if the person had smoked a cigarette. The nicotine binds to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the mesolimbic pathway and stimulates dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. Over time, smaller and smaller doses of nicotine are given, e.g., smaller patches. This means that withdrawal syndrome becomes more manageable as there is no shock withdrawal.

Antagonist, in the form of opioid antagonists, such as naltrexone.

Naltrexone, conventionally used to treat heroin addiction, has been used because of the similarities between gambling and substance addiction recognised in the DSM 5.

They help remove stigma around addiction by treating it as a medical issue.

They concluded that all forms of NRT are significantly more effective than placebos/no treatment to help smokers quit. The nasal spray was the most effective form of nicotine delivery. NRT users were 70% more likely to still abstain from smoking six months after quitting.

There are severe side effects of using naltrexone and NRT, including dizziness, headaches, tiredness, and muscle aches.

Aversion therapy is a treatment for addiction involving associating an addiction with an unpleasant stimulus.

Covert sensitisation is a treatment for addiction involving associating the addiction with an unpleasant stimulus using imaginary scenarios.

McCurran (1994) reported a habitual user of slot machines fearing snakes, who imagined their winnings being paid out in writhing snakes instead of coins.

Making a patient experience vomiting and nausea might be unethical because of the psychological and physical effects on the patient.

30%.

• Identifying cognitive distortions that cause addiction.
• Replacing these with better ways of thinking (functional analysis).
• Train alternative coping methods (skills training).

Together, the client and therapist aim to identify situations that put the addict at high risk of indulging in their addiction, e.g., for an alcoholic, this might be social situations in which alcohol is available.

It refers to the therapist challenging a client’s faulty beliefs about their addiction.

Social skills training helps clients refuse alcohol or drugs with as little fuss as possible to avoid embarrassment.

Training a client to be firm when refusing drinks.

For example, assertiveness training would help clients avoid at-risk situations by allowing them to reject invitations to partake in their addiction politely.

Attending gambler’s anonymous meetings.

 Five.

Three months.

For those who adhere to treatment, CBT appears to be very effective at preventing relapse, which is promising as most people’s experience with addiction is chronic relapse.