A
study looking into the application of mindfulness techniques to assist
the current standard of care for substance use disorder treatment has
yielded some promising results.
The potential impact of a form of mindfulness
training has been evaluated as an adjuvant therapy for substance use
disorder treatment in a study conducted by a team of researchers from
the University of Washington (WA, USA) led by Cinthia Price. The study found that the use of Mindfulness Awareness in Body-oriented Therapy
(MABT) in conjunction with the current standard of care treatment had a
significant positive impact on the rate of substance use amongst the
participants.
The research was conducted in a population of 189 women selected from three clinics throughout Seattle, all of whom were experiencing substance use disorder treatment. The group was divided into three cohorts. One group continued with their treatment as usual (TAU), a second received TAU and MABT and the third received TAU with a women’s education curriculum to establish if the extra attention and time were responsible for any positive result.
The research was conducted in a population of 189 women selected from three clinics throughout Seattle, all of whom were experiencing substance use disorder treatment. The group was divided into three cohorts. One group continued with their treatment as usual (TAU), a second received TAU and MABT and the third received TAU with a women’s education curriculum to establish if the extra attention and time were responsible for any positive result.
"Those who received MABT relapsed less. By learning to attend to their bodies, they learned important skills for better self-care.”
The
MABT was delivered in one-to-one coaching sessions, in an outpatient
environment. The groups were then assessed in intervals of 3 months for
the duration of a year. Each assessment included an examination of the
patient’s abstinence from their drug of abuse, cravings, emotion
dysregulation, psychological distress, mindfulness and interoceptive
awareness.
Price was impressed by the results, stating that, “we could teach
this intervention successfully in eight weeks to a very distressed
population, and participants not only really learned these skills, they
maintained increases in body awareness and regulation over the year-long
study period.”
The
MABT group experienced a significant improvement in all the areas
assessed, while the other two groups did not make any significant
progress. Furthermore, members of the MABT cohort that completed more
than 75% of the intervention sessions displayed a significant reduction
in depressive systems when compared to the other two groups. “Those who
received MABT relapsed less. By learning to attend to their bodies, they
learned important skills for better self-care,” explained Price.
The shifting perception in medicine’s respect for practices focused
on the mind and their ability to have clinically significant results is
exemplified by studies such as this one: where good, clear scientific
research is used to expel the stigma attached to therapies that do not
consist of quantifiable doses and detailed explanations of a mechanism
of action. One can hope that if research like this can continue to
flourish and yield good results, we may begin to improve treatments for
ailments such as addiction and depression, where more traditional
pharmaceutical approaches have, for so long, struggled to provide a
solution.
Published https://www.biotechniques.com/clinical-research/mind-over-matter-mindfulness-as-an-adjuvant-substance-use-disorder-treatment/
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