Acceptance and commitment therapy and drug use: A systematic review

Abstract

The harmful use of psychoactive substances has been considered one of the biggest public health issues. Several approaches are used for the treatment of disorders related to substance use in the face of the challenges imposed. This study aimed to identify the empirical works that used ACT for the treatment of substance use and their respective results regarding acceptance, feasibility, and reduction in the severity of dependence, as well as the results related to comorbidities and other aspects associated with drugs use by a systematic review of the literature on the subject, using the recommendations of the Preferred Report Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guide and searches in PubMed, APA PsycNET, SciELO, ScienceDirect, Web of Science, VHL, and LILACS. In total, 17 studies were analyzed, allowing the observation of an increase in psychological flexibility, attenuation of treatment dropout rates, and a reduction in substance use in the analyzed interventions.