Can psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy play a role in enhancing motivation to change in addiction treatment settings?

Summary

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies show promise as adjunctive treatments for substance use disorders, potentially enhancing motivation to change and improving treatment outcomes. Current pharmacotherapy and psychosocial interventions have limitations, including low retention rates and high relapse rates. However, there is a need for validated metrics to evaluate recovery capital and motivation, which are crucial for interpreting the effects of these new approaches on substance use behaviors.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Abstract Despite growing availability of several evidence-based approaches in the treatment of substance use disorders, existing pharmacotherapy and psychosocial interventions continue to have significant limitations, such as low treatment retention rates and high rates of relapse. There is a need to develop new strategies and models to address these limitations and target underlying psychosocial drivers of addiction, such as motivation to change – a crucial factor in achieving positive addiction treatment outcomes. Re-emerging clinical evidence and literature signal the promise of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies as being novel, adjunctive treatments for a range of mental health and substance use disorders, encouraging further research. However, there remains a lack of formally validated metrics to evaluate recovery capital and motivation, limiting interpretation of the growing psychedelic literature. This commentary describes the current state of this line of investigation and potential impact of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy on enhancing motivation to change in addiction treatment, and the need for validated metrics to evaluate recovery motivation and capital to assess the potential for psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies to elicit positive, lasting changes in substance use behaviors among those seeking treatment.

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