Impulsivity-targeted selective preventive interventions and treatments in addictive behaviors
Abstract
Impulsivity is one of the personality characteristics most associated with several psychopathological problems, and it is proposed as a transdiagnostic marker.One of the important health-related issues most consistently associated with high impulsivity is that of addictive behaviors.Specifically, facets such as positive and negative urgency, lack of premeditation and impulsive choice have the greatest empirical support.Several studies have developed psychological interventions and techniques aimed at reducing impulsivity in both healthy and substance using and dependent individuals.Emotional regulation training, trigger identification and training in alternative behaviors and dialectical-behavioral skills have shown to be effective in reducing urgency.Regarding lack of premeditation, problem solving strategies and goal management training are shown as effective techniques.Finally, several experimental techniques (framing, priming and reward bundling) have obtained promising results in reducing impulsive choice.Despite the available evidence, most results are based on preliminary and/or experimental studies, and more research is necessary to replicate these findings and to examine the best approach for translating the available evidence into clinical practice in order to generalize the study findings to real world behaviors.
Read the paper
Related studies
- The neurocircuitry of addiction: an overview
- Gender Differences in Human Brain: A Review
- Stratified medicine for mental disorders
- The neurobiology of drug addiction: cross-species insights into the dysfunction and recovery of the prefrontal cortex
- Annual Research Review: DNA methylation as a mediator in the association between risk exposure and child and adolescent psychopathology
- Schizophrenia: The new etiological synthesis
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.