Memory-Enhancing Drugs and Extinction Therapy Could Help Addicts Avoid Relapse
A combination of memory-enhancing medication and behavioral therapy could help drug addicts fight relapse and stay clean and sober. Published in the Journal of Neuroscience, a new animal study from Yale researchers demonstrates that D-cycloserine, which has been used to treat fear and anxiety disorders, can benefit drug addicts, especially when used in conjunction with behavioral therapy.
It can be very difficult for some drug addicts to avoid drug cravings, which are often triggered by environmental cues such as people, places, and objects. But in this study, rats that were given D-cycloserine were better able to resist addiction cues. The rats that did not receive the drug had a significantly higher relapse rate.
A group of 168 were allowed to self-administer cocaine for weeks. Then the researchers, led by Yale University’s Mary Torregrossa, PhD, applied a form of behavioral therapy called extinction therapy, which helps break the association between environmental cues and drug use. Some of the rats were then given D-cycloserine, which is said to enhance memory.
Torregrossa said that extinction therapy usually works best where the therapy takes place, such as in a treatment center, but that drugs like D-cycloserine can assist in making extinction therapy work more broadly, helping people combat cravings even in new environments. D- cycloserine was also found to affect the nucleus accumbens region of the brain, which is associated with addiction and forming drug-related memories.
Addiction expert Barry Everitt, PhD, of the University of Cambridge, said the study could help transition clinical therapies to the addict’s world, making extinction therapy more effective.
Source: Science Daily, Memory-Boosting Drug May Help Cocaine Addicts Avoid Relapse, August 3, 2010
