Open AccessThe Treatment of Substance Use Disorders: Recent Developments and New Perspectives
Author(s) -
Annika Rosenthal,
Claudia Ebrahimi,
Friederike Wedemeyer,
Nina Romanczuk-Seiferth,
Anne Beck
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
neuropsychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.71
H-Index - 83
eISSN - 1423-0224
pISSN - 0302-282X
DOI - 10.1159/000525268
Subject(s) - neurocognitive , psychology , addiction , craving , psychological intervention , cognition , abstinence , substance use , exposure therapy , mindfulness , psychotherapist , clinical psychology , psychiatry , anxiety
Substance-related disorders are complex psychiatric disorders that are characterized by continued consumption in spite of harmful consequences. Addiction affects various brain networks critically involved in learning, reward, and motivation, as well as inhibitory control. Currently applied therapeutic approaches aim at modification of behavior that ultimately leads to decrease of consumption or abstinence in individuals with substance use disorders. However, traditional treatment methods might benefit from recent neurobiological and cognitive neuroscientific research findings. Novel cognitive-behavioral approaches in the treatment of addictive behavior aim at enhancement of strategies to cope with stressful conditions as well as craving-inducing cues and target erroneous learning mechanisms, including cognitive bias modification, reconsolidation-based interventions, mindfulness-based interventions, virtual-reality-based cue exposure therapy as well as pharmacological augmentation strategies. This review discusses therapeutic strategies that target dysregulated neurocognitive processes associated with the development and maintenance of disordered substance use and may hold promise as effective treatments for substance-related disorders.