Inducing Effects of Illegal Drugs to Improve Mental Health by the Self-Regulation Therapy: A Pilot Study
Preprints.org September 7, 2021 preprint DOI: 10.20944/preprints202109.0134.v1 via Semantic Scholar
Summary
A brief psychological intervention called Self-Regulation Therapy (SRT), which uses suggestion and classical conditioning to reproduce the positive effects of illegal drugs (cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy), improved coping with stress and emotionality. Fifteen volunteers (average age 24.67) showed superior coping strategies and positive emotionality, with reduced negative emotionality, compared to no intervention. Improvements persisted during a 4-week follow-up. The findings suggest that reproducing the positive effects of such drugs via SRT can enhance young people's coping and emotional regulation.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Pre-post intervention with follow-up Pilot study |
|---|---|
| Sample size | 15 |
| Population | Volunteers with mean age 24.67 |
| Keywords | Psychology Medicine |
| Citations | 1 |
| Key finding | Self-Regulation Therapy improved coping strategies and emotionality by reproducing positive effects of illegal drugs, with gains maintained at 4-week follow-up. |
Abstract
Background: This study consists of a brief psychological intervention, which uses the Self-Regulation Therapy (SRT, procedure based on suggestion and classical conditioning), to improve coping with stress and emotionality by reproducing the positive effects of illegal drugs: cannabis, cocaine, ecstasy. Method: 15 volunteers (8 males, 7 females), with a mean age of 24.67 (SD = 4.43), underwent intervention to improve their coping with stress and emotionality using SRT. They carried out pre- and post-intervention scores for 10 days and during a 4-week fol-low-up. The employed instruments were: COPE (Coping Skills Inventory) and PNAS (Positive and Negative Affect Schedule). Results: SRT was superior to non-intervention for the 4 coping strategies (2= .829, .453, .411 and .606) and for positive (2= .371) and negative emotionality (2= .419). An improvement in scores was evidenced in the follow-up scores compared to the pre-intervention measures. Conclusions: This study shows for the first time that it is possible to use illegal drugs, considered harmful to public health, to improve young people’s coping capacity and emotionality by reproducing their positive effects with SRT.