Emerging Interventions in Behavioral Addictions: A Narrative Review of Psychedelics and Neuromodulation.
Brain Sci September 12, 2025 Krista Ulisse, Jehad Albitar, Jourdan T. Aromin et al. 5 citations
Addiction treatment faces challenges with poor retention and few medications. Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy and neuromodulation are emerging as circuit-level interventions for behavioral addictions. This review examines how these treatments target disrupted reward, executive control, and stress regulation networks. By doing so, they may enable meaningful recovery and long-term remission in otherwise treatment-refractory cases. The review covers mechanisms of action, applications in gambling disorder, internet gaming disorder, internet use disorder, and compulsive sexual behavior disorder, and highlights current research limitations and future directions for integrating these novel therapies.