European Addiction Research

Moritz S.a· Göritz A.S.b· Kühn S.a,c· Gehlenborg J.a

Author affiliations

aUniversity Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Hamburg, Germany
bBehavioral Health Technology, Augsburg University, Augsburg, Germany
cLise Meitner Group for Environmental Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany

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Article / Publication Details

First-Page Preview

Received: March 24, 2022
Accepted: October 28, 2022
Published online: December 08, 2022

Number of Print Pages: 4
Number of Figures: 0
Number of Tables: 0

ISSN: 1022-6877 (Print)
eISSN: 1421-9891 (Online)

For additional information: https://www.karger.com/EAR

Abstract

Introduction: Craving alcohol is a core symptom of alcohol use disorder (AUD) and an important target for treatment. A new line of treatment for AUD aims at overriding the urge to consume alcohol by changing implicit cognitions via approach bias modification (ApBM). In a prior study, we tested a variant of ApBM called imaginal retraining, which reduced craving. As addiction and body-focused repetitive behaviors (BFRBs) share important symptoms (e.g., inability to resist urges), for the present study we merged imaginal retraining with a technique aimed at BFRB, called decoupling, to augment treatment effects. We hypothesized that the new technique, which is called 3P, would lead to a greater reduction in craving relative to (active) control conditions. Methods: The study was conducted online. Data from 227 participants were considered. Participants were randomized to 1 out of 5 conditions. Craving for alcohol before and after the brief intervention was the primary outcome. Results: Only the 3P condition lessened craving by approximately one third at an almost medium effect size (improvement: 34.5%, p = 0.003, d = 0.458). Effects were significantly larger relative to the wait-list control and two active control conditions (p’s < 0.02; greater reduction than imaginal retraining at a small but nonsignificant effect size). Discussion/Conclusion: If replicated, the combination of imaginal retraining and decoupling (3P) represents a promising, easy-to-implement self-help technique to reduce immediate craving. Long-term effects in participants with formally diagnosed AUD have not yet been investigated.

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First-Page Preview

Received: March 24, 2022
Accepted: October 28, 2022
Published online: December 08, 2022

Number of Print Pages: 4
Number of Figures: 0
Number of Tables: 0

ISSN: 1022-6877 (Print)
eISSN: 1421-9891 (Online)

For additional information: https://www.karger.com/EAR

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