INNOVATIVE TREATMENTS FOR DRUG ADDICTION (FROM HANDBOOK ON DRUG ABUSE, 1979 BY ROBERT DUPONT AND AVRAM GOLDSTEIN - SEE NCJ-57805)

• NCJ Number: 57822
• Author(s): C P OBRIEN; L K Y NG
• Date Published: 1979
• Length: 9 pages
• Corporate Author: US Dept of Health, Education, and Welfare
• Publication Format: Document
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

NOVEL DRUG ABUSE TREATMENT METHODS--BEHAVORIAL AND COVERT CONDITIONING, REWARDS IDENTIFICATION, DESENSITIZATION PROCEDURES, HYPNOSIS, AND ACCUPUNCTURE--ARE DISCUSSED.

Abstract

BEHAVORIAL TREATMENTS ARE PREMISED ON THE IMPORTANCE OF CONDITIONED RESPONSES IN THE ADDICTIVE PROCESS. DRUGS ACT AS POWERFUL FORCES IN SHAPING BEHAVIOR, BOTH BY DIRECT PLEASANT EFFECTS AND BY RELIEVING WITHDRAWAL SYMPTOMS. INNOVATIVE TREATMENTS METHODS RECOGNIZE THE EXISTENCE OF THESE CONDITIONED PHENOMENA, AND ATTEMPT TO INFLUENCE SUCH CONDITIONING THROUGH BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION. COVERT CONDITIONING OR SENTIZATION USES IMAGINED SCENES AS BOTH ADVERSE AND REWARDING EVENTS. INSTEAD OF PLEASANT DRUG EFFECTS, THE PATIENT IS ASKED TO IMAGINE BECOMING SEVERELY ILL AS A CONSEQUENCE OF TAKING THE DRUG. ELECTROMYOGRAPHIC BIOFEEDBACK HAS ALSO BEEN USED. MOST PATIENTS CAN LEARN TO ACHIEVE A STATE OF MARKED RELAXATION WITHIN A FEW SESSIONS, BUT PATIENT COOPERATION AND ENTHUSIASM FACTOR LARGELY IN THE SUCCESS RATE. ANOTHER APPROACH INVOLVES THE IDENTIFICATION OF REWARDS (SUCH AS EARLY RELEASE) AND PUNISHMENTS IN THE PATIENT'S ENVIRONMENT WHICH CAN BE THERAPEUTICALLY MANIPULATED; BEST RESULTS WERE OBTAINED WITH THIS METHOD IN METHADONE PROGRAMS. EXTINCTION OR DESENTIZATION PROCEDURES INVOLVE EXPOSURE TO SITUATIONS ASSOCIATED WITH DRUG TAKING, BUT ACTUAL DRUG INGESTION WAS NOT PERMITTED. HYPNOSIS AND RELAXATION ARE USED TO PREVENT THE PATIENT FROM RESPONDING TO THE DISTURBING SOCIAL SITUATION BY DEVELOPING ANXIETY AND DRUG ADMINISTRATION; HYPNOSIS APPEARS MOST VALUABLE WHEN USED AS AN ADJUNCT IN A COMPREHENSIVE TREATMENT APPROACH. FINALLY, ACUPUNCTURE REPRESENTS A RECENT APPLICATION OF AN OLD TREATMENT TECHNIQUE. WHILE FAVORABLE REPORTS APPEAR IMPRESSIVE, THE CLAIMS OF EFFECTIVENESS ARE BASED UPON DATA COLLECTED WITHOUT ADEQUATE CONTROL AND STANDARDIZED METHODS. THUS, THE TREATMENT METHODS DESCRIBED SHOULD BE VIEWED AS EXPERIMENTAL, WITH LITTLE SUBSTATIVE EVIDENCE AS TO THEIR EFFICACY. REFERENCES INCLUDED. (LWM)