14 DAY TRIAL // The results of a new scientific study conducted on the nature and perils of addictions reveal that young adults who are addicted to nicotine tend to be willing to quit the habit, but lack proper guidance in doing so. As such, behavior therapy may be the key towards reducing the number of young smokers.
This investigation was conducted by experts with the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center of Addiction medicine and the Butler Center for Research as Hazelden. Details of the work were published in the latest issue of the medical journal Drug and Alcohol Dependence.
As a general rule, the scientists learned, people tend to have the desire to break their addictions, but falter in their resolve because they do not receive any help and/or guidance in their efforts. For an avid smoker, ignoring all cues that previously led to them lighting one up is a heavy struggle.
In order for them to remain clean and dedicated to their effort, it is important that young adults receive behavioral training, wherein specialists tell them what methods to use in fighting off the urges they get. This is critically-important for the times when a case worker is not on station of assist directly.
“This study suggests that strong motivation to change may exist from the get-go among young adults with severe addiction problems entering residential treatment, but the know-how and confidence to change come through the treatment experience,” research scientist John F. Kelly, PhD, reports.
He was one of the main authors of the study, alongside colleagues Karen Urbanoski, PhD, Bettina Hoeppner, PhD, and Valerie Slaymaker, PhD, PsychCentral reports. The longitudinal study the team conducted focused on 303 young adults, all of them aged between 18 and 24.
Each of the test subjects attended multidisciplinary, 12 step-based treatment for alcohol or other drug addictions, which they carried our at home. Motivation, psychological distress, coping skills and commitment to participation in mutual support groups were some of the parameters the team followed.
All of them are very important when trying to gage a person's chances of successfully quitting the habit. Interestingly, the study uncovered that participants had very low coping skills and commitment, even if they continued to remain highly-motivated to quit their habits throughout the study.
“The young people in our study were quite motivated to do well in treatment but lacked the confidence, coping skills, and commitment to AA that are critical to longer-term success,” Slaymaker explains.
“Treatment appears to work by increasing their confidence and ability to make and sustain healthy, recovery-related efforts,” the researcher concludes.