CravEx: An EMDR approach to treat substance abuse and addiction

Thirty years of addiction research have provided sufficient evidence for the crucial role of memory in drug dependency. The addiction memory (AM) serves as a useful concept for obsessive-compulsive craving to be seen in drug addicted patients (Boening, 2001). The concept of AM and its importance in relapse occurrence and maintenance of learned addictive behavior has gained growing acceptance in the field of addiction research and treatment. The implicit nature of the addiction memory seems to qualify it as a target for EMDR treatment. CravEx (Craving Extinguished), as part of a treatment for comorbid addictive clients, focuses on reprocessing of the addiction memory thus leading to stabilization in the addiction. This chapter presents the eight phases of the CravEx script.

Book Section

English

Michael Hase

Hase, M. (2010). CravEx: An EMDR approach to treat substance abuse and addiction. In M. Luber (Ed.), Eye movement desensitization (EMDR) scripted protocols: Special populations (pp. 467-488). New York, NY: Springer Publishing Co