Mindfulness-based treatment of addiction

Course overview

Contemporary advances in addiction neuroscience have paralleled increasing interest in the ancient mental training practice of mindfulness meditation as a potential therapy for addiction. In the past decade, mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have been studied as a treatment for an array addictive behaviors, including drinking, smoking, opioid misuse, and use of illicit substances like cocaine and heroin. This article reviews current research evaluating MBIs as a treatment for addiction, with a focus on findings pertaining to clinical outcomes and biobehavioral mechanisms. Issues pertaining to MBI treatment optimization and sequencing, dissemination and implementation, dose-response relationships, automaticity, and research rigor and reproducibility are discussed. SMART is recommended for further research.