In a randomized controlled trial, 75 adults with marijuana use disorder were randomized to 2 sessions of brief treatment versus a 9-session clinician-delivered MET-CBT approach, or a 9-session version of TES emphasizing MET and CBT. Both MET/CBT conditions included a CM component in which participants could earn up to $435 in gift cards if all urines were negative for cannabis. Significantly more participants in clinician-delivered treatment (44.8%) and TES (46.7%) were abstinent at the end of treatment compared with the 2-session brief treatment (12.5%). Similarly, both the therapist- and computer delivered approaches were significantly more effective in reducing cannabis use compared with brief intervention alone during treatment, but effects weakened during follow-up and were no longer significant at the 6-month follow-up point.
How Does CBT Work?
- The studies reviewed above highlight both the promise of technology-based interventions as well as their significant limitations, which include highly variable rates of retention and adherence and poor rates of follow-up, particularly for studies collected entirely on-line (Kiluk et al., 2010).
- A benefit of CBT is that you can start making changes right away and use these skills for the rest of your life.
- Hester and colleagues (Hester, Delaney, & Campbell, 2011) conducted a study in which 78 non-dependent problem drinkers were randomized to either Moderation Management alone () (either delivered in-person or web-based) or Moderation Management plus online training in moderation management using the “Moderate Drinking” app ().
- The literature provides a somewhat complex narrative on the efficacy of combined CBT and pharmacotherapy.
- The first step in planning a cognitive behavioural treatment program is to carry out a functional analysis to identify maintaining antecedents and set treatments targets, select interventions.
The population focus is adults with a diagnosed alcohol or other drug use disorder, as well as adults with substance use that may place them a risk for related consequences. To add clinical utility to this review, effect size data will be summarized using Cohen’s generic benchmarks of “small” (d ~ 0.20), “medium” (d ~ 0.50), and “large” (d ~ 0.80).18 In discussion, we provide final remarks on for whom, how, and where CBT may work best. While the development of effective, individual components demonstrated to address a single core feature of addiction (e.g., attentional bias, craving, delay discounting) may have limited impact if delivered alone, it has the potential to lead to strategies that allow us to more efficiently tailor treatments for complex and heterogeneous is alcoholism a choice disorders like the addictions. Research has shown that CBT can be an effective treatment for substance use disorders, both on its own and in combination with other treatment strategies. CBT typically involves a number of distinct interventions—such as operant learning strategies, skills building, and motivational elements—that can either be used on their own or combined.
Cognitive behavioural therapies are empirically supported interventions in the management of addictive behaviours. CBT comprises of heterogeneous treatment components that allow the therapist to use this approach across a variety of addictive behaviours, including behavioural addictions. Relapse prevention programmes addressing not just the addictive behaviour, but also factors that contribute to it, thereby decreasing the probability of relapse. Addictive behaviours are characterized by a high degree of co-morbidity and these may interfere with treatment response. The relapse prevention programme combines a variety of cognitive behavioural strategies33. It skills training such as behavioural rehearsal, assertiveness training, communication skills to cope with social pressures and interpersonal problem solving to reduce impact of conflicts, arousal reduction strategies such as relaxation training to manage pain or anxiety as risk for relapse.
Patterns of movement through the various stages are categorized as stable, progressive or unstable11. Substituting old habits that contribute to substance use with more positive and enduring actions enhances a person’s ability to function and aids in long-term recovery. You look at your thoughts, such as thinking about the worst case scenario or either-or thinking, and your therapist helps you reframe those thoughts into something healthier and productive. Using the ABC model, Hornstein explains that the A in the activating event might be buying the lottery tickets because you (B) believe it’s going to make you wealthy.
As a result, these metrics of benefit are representative of CBT compared to something else rather than whether this class of interventions is efficacious over a truly inert control condition. Large-scale trials, however, demonstrate meaningful change from baseline with effect sizes in the moderate range (e.g).23,31,44,45 Secondary measures of psychosocial functioning (eg, cognitive changes, mental health and health indicators, quality of life) are typically collected in clinical trials but have not been a focus in the recent CBT for AOD review literature. In early work, these outcomes showed effect sizes nearly double those for substance use, which is important given they may be of equal or even greater importance to stakeholders such as providers, patients, and families.
Behavioural interventions
The inability to delay long-term pleasure for short-term pleasure is a characteristic feature of substance use disorders, and thus the ability to set long-term goals may be compromised.66 Particularly for patients with more severe substance dependence, skills building may require shifting the patient’s relevant skills and goals from that of an illicit lifestyle to that of a more normative lifestyle. Thus, the skills that may have been adaptive while actively using—interpersonal skills needed to obtain drugs and to connect with other substance users, the ability to manipulate those around you, to do things without being caught—may translate poorly to reconnecting with family and sober friends, obtaining and maintaining a job, and building healthy life activities. As implied above, CBT for substance use disorders varies according to the particular protocol used and—given the variability in the nature and effects of different psychoactive substances—substance targeted. Consistent across interventions is the use of learning-based approaches to target maladaptive behavioral patterns, motivational and cognitive barriers to change, and skills deficits. Several studies examined the effectiveness of CM as a supplement to traditional drug counseling. The studies initially provided relatively high rewards (as high as $1,000) for sustained abstinence from substance use 47-49, but recently, effectiveness studies have focused on providing low-cost CM as a more feasible addition to traditional counseling programs.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Substance Use Disorders
The individual’s reactions to the lapse and their attributions (of a failure) regarding the cause of lapse determine the escalation of a lapse into a relapse. The abstinence violation effect is characterized by two key cognitive affective elements. Cognitive dissonance (conflict and guilt) and personal attribution effect (blaming self as cause for relapse). Individuals who experience an intense AVE go through a motivation crisis that affects their commitment to abstinence goals30,31. CBT is a way to restructure negative thought patterns and behaviors into healthier ones. It’s changing the way you feel or act toward something by changing how you think about the situation.
We provide a broad view and suggest that CBT is efficacious, but given its longevity, it has become increasingly integrative with time. This offers promise with respect to flexibility because there is no “one-size-fits-all” approach. With that said, the priority of the next phase for CBT is implementation and preservation of key elements when adaptation occurs. Relapse is a process in which a newly abstinent patient experiences a sense of perceived control over his/her behaviour up to a point goodbye letter to alcohol at which there is a high risk situation and for which the person may not have adequate skills or a sense of self-efficacy. Self- efficacy increases and the probability of relapsing decreases when one is able to cope with this situation31.
As seen in Rajiv’s case illustration, internal (social anxiety, craving) and external cues (drinking partner, a favourite brand of drink) were identified as triggers for his craving. Subsequently inadequate coping and lack of assertiveness and low self-efficacy maintained his drinking. The following section presents a brief overview of some of the major approaches to managing addictive behaviours. Early learning theories and later social cognitive and cognitive theories have had a significant influence on the formulation CBT for addictive behaviours. Theoretical constructs such as self-efficacy, appraisal, outcome expectancies related to addictions arising out these models have impacted treatment models considerably. According to Beck et al., (2005), “A cognitive therapist could do hundreds of interventions with any patient at any given time”1).
Can You Get CBT Online?
If your insurance plan covers psychotherapy or behavioral medicine, it should cover most, if not all, CBT sessions. Patients are taught to identify NATs by recording their thoughts as they occur using self-monitoring and to generate alternative responses using the Socratic dialogue. The patient is encouraged to respond to these automatic thoughts using a variety of verbal responses, that is different from already established problem behaviours. There are no specific time frames within which a person navigates drinking when bored through the stages, and may also remain at stage for a long time before moving forwards or backwards (for example a person may remain in the stage of contemplation or preparation for years without moving on to action).