Cue exposure therapy for treatment of stimulant (methamphetamine) use disorder: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

• Published in: Journal of substance use 2020-07, Vol.25 (4), p.387-391
• Main Authors: Talebizadeh, Meghdad, Fathali Lavasani, Fahimeh, Bastani, Parsa, Noroozi, Alireza
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: cue exposure therapy; Methamphetamine use disorder; study protocol
• ISSN: 1465-9891; 1475-9942
• DOI: 10.1080/14659891.2020.1720325

Background: Cue exposure therapy (CET) is a behavioral approach for treating substance use disorder that due to lack of evidence, its efficacy has been matter of debate over the past two decades. We designed a randomized controlled trial (RCT) to investigate efficacy of adding CET to treatment as usual (TAU) as compare to TAU for stimulants (methamphetamine) use disorder. Methods: In this RCT, 40 patients with MA use disorder (MUD) who receive treatment from an outpatient clinic are randomly assigned to intervention (CET+TAU) or control (TAU) groups. The CET consisted of 10 weekly individual sessions providing exposure to MA-related cues. The TAU consisted of biweekly individual sessions of cognitive and behavioral treatment that aimed to help patients achieve initial abstinence and relapse prevention. The primary outcome of the study is percent of weekly negative urine tests. Secondary outcomes include severity of addiction, craving, depression, anxiety, stress, self-efficacy, and quality of life. Conclusion: There is no controlled data determining the CET efficacy of MUD treatment. The issues around development of CET for people with MUD and design of the study have been discussed in this study protocol.