Can psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy play a role in enhancing motivation to change in addiction treatment settings?
Mark Kang, Lindsay Mackay, Devon Christie, Cody Callon, Elena Argento
Journal of Psychedelic Studies March 11, 2022 DOI: 10.1556/2054.2022.00190 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Commentary Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Addiction Psychedelic-assisted therapy |
| Keywords | Psychosocial Psychotherapist Psychological intervention Substance use Addiction treatment Mental health Clinical psychology Relapse prevention |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key points | Argues that validated metrics for recovery motivation and capital are needed to assess the potential of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy to enhance motivation to change in addiction treatment. |
Abstract
Abstract Despite growing availability of several evidence-based approaches in the treatment of substance use disorders, existing pharmacotherapy and psychosocial interventions continue to have significant limitations, such as low treatment retention rates and high rates of relapse. There is a need to develop new strategies and models to address these limitations and target underlying psychosocial drivers of addiction, such as motivation to change – a crucial factor in achieving positive addiction treatment outcomes. Re-emerging clinical evidence and literature signal the promise of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies as being novel, adjunctive treatments for a range of mental health and substance use disorders, encouraging further research. However, there remains a lack of formally validated metrics to evaluate recovery capital and motivation, limiting interpretation of the growing psychedelic literature. This commentary describes the current state of this line of investigation and potential impact of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy on enhancing motivation to change in addiction treatment, and the need for validated metrics to evaluate recovery motivation and capital to assess the potential for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies to elicit positive, lasting changes in substance use behaviors among those seeking treatment.