The Emerging Science of Mindfulness as a Treatment for Addiction

Abstract

There are few conditions that cause as much suffering on a personal and societal level as addictions. Extensive studies have been made in understanding the neurobiological circuitry that drives various substance addictions in both animal models and humans, but these insights have yet to produce comparable advances in treatment methods. Mindfulness trainings, which are based on ancient Buddhist psychological models, have recently been tested as addiction treatments and have yielded promising results. Fascinatingly, these Buddhist models revolve around the elimination of suffering, which is thought to be the inevitable product of craving. Further, there are considerable overlaps between these ancient ideas and modern models of behavioral reinforcement. The early Buddhist models may even offer a more sophisticated understanding of the psychological mechanisms of addiction and ways to improve current treatment strategies. Since mindfulness itself has recently become the subject of psychological and neurobiology study, this chapter will consider the overlaps between the early Buddhist and contemporary models of the addictive process, review studies of mindfulness-based addiction treatments, and discuss recent neuroimaging studies to further inform our understanding of the neurological mechanisms and potential effects of mindfulness-based addiction treatments. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)