What’s New in Psychology?
The Keys to Recovery from Substance Use Disorder
Jim Windell
What is the conventional wisdom regarding the ability to recover from alcohol or drug addiction?
Isn’t it that people have to want to change and get better?
If you are a psychologist who works with people with Substance Use Disorder, you may have your own wisdom and insights as to what it takes for someone to get on the road to recovery. However, researchers from around the U.S. reviewed published studies to identify the key elements leading to change as best supported by data.
In an article recently published in the journal Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Research, the three keys to behavior change were listed and discussed. To discover these keys, the researchers explored reviews of studies published between 2008 and 2023 involving Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) and Substance Use Disorder (SUD) treatments and the effects on substance use and related outcomes in adults. Three constructs involved in treatment were the most well-supported by data from 11 studies. Those constructs were self-efficacy, social support, and craving.
The researchers then reviewed 48 studies published between 1990 and 2023 that focused on one or more of these three concepts in adults' recovery, and that met rigorous methodology standards. The 48 studies used varied research designs, participant samples, and contexts.
They found after analyzing these studies that there was support for self-efficacy, social support, and craving as factors that likely influence people's behaviors in treatment or recovery. Self-efficacy (a belief in one's ability to achieve a goal), social support, and managing cravings are among the treatment elements best supported by evidence.
The researchers called for these three constructs to be incorporated into AUD and SUD treatment and clinical training. Such an approach could improve recovery interventions, inform new treatments and clinical training, help clinicians align patients with approaches likely to work for them, and hone community-based recovery programs.
The researchers called for additional research on how these three concepts drive behavior change and how they might be related to efforts to identify other evidence-based approaches. They recommended several directions for future research. These included expanding the examined outcomes to other manifestations of mental and physical health and experimenting with key elements of treatment to generate direct evidence of associations between those constructs and outcomes. Investigating the roles of context (such as policies, incentives, social norms, and settings) and combinations of influences could improve outcomes across varied real-world situations. Specifying how behavioral change occurs – such as the relevant neurological and biological pathways— is a critical gap that needs to be addressed.
To read the full article, find it with this reference:
Maisto, S.A., Moskal, D., Firkey, M.K., Bergman, B.G., Borsari, B., Hallgren, K.A., Houck, J.M., Hurlocker, M., Kiluk, B.D., Kuerbis, A., Reid, A.E., & Magill. M. (2024). From alcohol and other drug treatment mediator to mechanism to implementation: A systematic review and the cases of self-efficacy, social support, and craving. Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Research . doi: 10.1111/acer.15411.
