The Effectiveness of Mindfulness in the Treatment of Methamphetamine Addiction Symptoms: Does Neuroplasticity Play a Role?
James Chmiel, Agnieszka Malinowska, Filip Rybakowski, Jerzy Leszek
Brain Sciences March 27, 2024 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci14040320 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Interventions | Mindfulness meditation transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) |
| Topics | Addiction Meditation Neuroplasticity |
| Keywords | Methamphetamine use disorder |
| Citations | 4 |
| Key findings | Mindfulness-based interventions appear effective in reducing craving, relapse, stress, depression, and aggression, and improving cognitive function in methamphetamine addiction, alone or with tDCS. |
Abstract
Methamphetamine is a highly stimulating psychoactive drug that causes life-threatening addictions and affects millions of people around the world. Its effects on the brain are complex and include disturbances in the neurotransmitter systems and neurotoxicity. There are several known treatment methods, but their effectiveness is moderate. It must be emphasised that no drugs have been approved for treatment. For this reason, there is an urgent need to develop new, effective, and safe treatments for methamphetamine. One of the potential treatments is mindfulness meditation. In recent years, this technique has been researched extensively in the context of many neurological and psychiatric disorders. This review explores the use of mindfulness in the treatment of methamphetamine addiction. Searches were conducted in the PubMed/Medline, Research Gate, and Cochrane databases. Ten studies were identified that used mindfulness-based interventions in the treatment of methamphetamine addiction. The results show that mindfulness is an effective form of reducing hunger, risk of relapses, stress indicators, depression, and aggression, alone or in combination with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Mindfulness also improved the cognitive function in addicts. The included studies used only behavioural measures. The potential mechanisms of mindfulness in addiction were explained, and it was proposed that it can induce neuroplasticity, alleviating the symptoms of addiction. Evidence from the studies suggest that mindfulness may be an effective treatment option for methamphetamine addiction, used alone or in combination with tDCS. However, further high-quality research is required to establish the role of this treatment option in this field. The use of neuroimaging and neurophysiological measures is fundamental to understand the mechanisms of mindfulness.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on neuroplasticity, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| A neurotrophic hypothesis of depression: role of synaptogenesis in the actions of NMDA receptor antagonists | 2012 | Review | |
| Towards an understanding of psychedelic-induced neuroplasticity. Review of preclinical and clinical studies | 2023 | Review | |
| Buddha's Brain: Neuroplasticity and Meditation [In the Spotlight] | 2008 | Review | |
| Neuroplasticity as a convergent mechanism of ketamine and classical psychedelics | 2021 | Review | |
| Psychedelics in Psychiatry: Neuroplastic, Immunomodulatory, and Neurotransmitter Mechanisms | 2020 | Review |
Citations in the library
Cites 56
- How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work? Proposing Mechanisms of Action From a Conceptual and Neural Perspective Perspectives on Psychological Science October 14, 2011
- Short-term meditation training improves attention and self-regulation Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences October 11, 2007
- Attending to the present: mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience August 13, 2007
- Minding one’s emotions: Mindfulness training alters the neural expression of sadness. Emotion February 1, 2010
- Mindfulness training increases momentary positive emotions and reward experience in adults vulnerable to depression: A randomized controlled trial. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology July 18, 2011
and 51 more in the library