EMDR in the treatment of addiction - Reprocessing of the addiction memory
Description
The comorbidity of PTSD and substance abuse provides sufficient reason for treating patients, who are addicted, with EMDR while focusing on the PTSD diagnosis. However, there are several pathways leading to addiction, and PTSD is only one of them. 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. The concept of an AM, and its importance in relapse occurrence and maintenance of learned addictive behaviour, has gained growing acceptance in the field of addiction research and treatment. The AM is interpreted as an individual-acquired memory following drug consumption in some individuals. The addiction memory is based on normal memory systems and systems of central nervous information processing. This is in accordance with the experience that the addiction memory can be activated at any time by relapse-endangering complexes as well as internal and/or external situations, which are experienced as cravings by the person in question. The implicit nature of the addiction memory seems to qualify it as a target for EMDR treatment.
Without adequate therapeutic interventions, it is hardly extinguishable, as shown in the animal model where a re-imprinting of the AM facilitated by steroids extinguished craving in opiate addicted rats. Thus, altering or extinguishing the AM in human addicts could add an important component to well-established treatment modalities. The reprocessing of the AM with EMDR should, thus, lead to measurable changes in addiction symptoms, if the AM qualifies for maladaptive memory within the AIP model. As the AM includes the urge to consume the drug being abused, more aptly named craving, reprocessing of the AM should lead to a reduction in craving.
Preliminary data demonstrates the efficacy to reduce craving in alcohol-addicted patients. Anecdotal reports from clinicians seem to indicate an effect of the reprocessing of the addiction memory in patients addicted to heroin or psycho-stimulants. According to research in the animal model, the same principles should apply.
There are, however, other aspects to addiction. Is there a difference between chemical dependency and other addictive behaviour? How much do we know already? What have we yet to discover? These questions lead to the direction of developing a comprehensive EMDR approach in the treatment of addictions.
The Addiction Memory (AM) serves as a useful concept for "obsessive-compulsive craving" to be seen in drug addicted patients. The concept of an AM, and its importance in relapse occurrence and maintenance of learned addictive behaviour, has gained growing acceptance in the field of addiction research and treatment. The AM is interpreted as an individual-acquired memory following drug consumption in some individuals. The addiction memory is based on normal memory systems and systems of central nervous information processing. This is in accordance with the experience that the addiction memory can be activated at any time by relapse-endangering complexes as well as internal and/or external situations, which are experienced as cravings by the person in question. The implicit nature of the addiction memory seems to qualify it as a target for EMDR treatment.
Without adequate therapeutic interventions, it is hardly extinguishable, as shown in the animal model where a re-imprinting of the AM facilitated by steroids extinguished craving in opiate addicted rats. Thus, altering or extinguishing the AM in human addicts could add an important component to well-established treatment modalities. The reprocessing of the AM with EMDR should, thus, lead to measurable changes in addiction symptoms, if the AM qualifies for maladaptive memory within the AIP model. As the AM includes the urge to consume the drug being abused, more aptly named craving, reprocessing of the AM should lead to a reduction in craving.
Preliminary data demonstrates the efficacy to reduce craving in alcohol-addicted patients. Anecdotal reports from clinicians seem to indicate an effect of the reprocessing of the addiction memory in patients addicted to heroin or psycho-stimulants. According to research in the animal model, the same principles should apply.
There are, however, other aspects to addiction. Is there a difference between chemical dependency and other addictive behaviour? How much do we know already? What have we yet to discover? These questions lead to the direction of developing a comprehensive EMDR approach in the treatment of addictions.
Format
Conference
Language
English
Original Work Citation
Hase, M. (2010, June). EMDR in the treatment of addiction - Reprocessing of the addiction memory. Keynote presented at the 11th EMDR Europe Association Conference, Hamburg, Germany
Citation
“EMDR in the treatment of addiction - Reprocessing of the addiction memory,” Francine Shapiro Library, accessed May 10, 2024, https://francineshapirolibrary.omeka.net/items/show/19543.