• UCLA Health
  • myUCLAhealth
  • School of Medicine
UCLA Health

UCLA Health
  • About Us
    • What is UCLA Health?
    • Contact Us
    • Your Feedback
    • Accountable Care Organization
    • Awards & Achievements
    • Careers
    • Careers for Physicians
    • Departments - Administrative
    • Departments - Clinical
    • Giving to UCLA Health
    • In the Community
    • 340B Program
    • Industry Relations
    • Innovation
    • Leadership
    • News Releases
    • Price Transparency
    • Social Media
    Vital SignsLinked Graphic: Subscribe to Health Newsletters
    • Contact
    • Your Feedback
    • Accountable Care Organization
    • Awards and Achievements
    • Careers
    • Careers for Physicians
    • Departments - Administrative
    • Departments - Clinical
    • Giving to UCLA Health
    • Industry Relations
    • Innovation
    • In the Community
    • 340B Program
    • Leadership
    • News Releases
    • Price Transparency
    • Social Media
    • Subscribe to UCLA Health Newsletters
  • Conditions & Treatment
    • Health Library
    • Tests & Procedures
    • Drug Interaction Checker
    • Brain & Nervous System
    • Cancer
    • Children's Health
    • Heart Disease
    • Nutrition & Wellness
    • Pregnancy & Newborns
    • Orthopedics
    • Women's Health
    • Video Library
    • Cancer
    • Cardiovascular
    • Chiropractic
    • Cosmetic Surgery
    • Ear, Nose and Throat
    • Gastrointestinal
    • General Healthcare
    • Neurological
    • Obstetrics/Gynecology
    • See all videos...
    Symptom Checker
    • Video Library
  • Locations

    Hospitals

    • Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center
    • UCLA Medical Center, Santa Monica
    • UCLA Mattel Children's Hospital
    • Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital
    • Institutes and Centers
    • Take a Virtual Tour

    Medical Offices/Clinics

    • Primary Care
    • Specialty Care
    • Immediate Care
    • Emergency Care
    • Outpatient Surgery Centers
    • Community Cancer Care
    • Pediatric Locations
    • Imaging/Radiology
    • Clinical Labs
    • Pharmacies

    Interactive Map

    interactive map

    • Locations Coming Soon
    • UCLA Hospitals
    • Take a Virtual Tour
    • Primary Care Practices
    • Specialty Care Practices
    • Immediate Care
    • Emergency Care
    • Pediatric Locations
    • Outpatient Surgery Centers
    • Other Locations
    • Interactive Map
    • Coming Soon!
  • Medical Services
  • For Patients & Visitors
    • Directions & Parking
    • Appointments: Call, Click, Come In
    • Admissions
    • Preparing For Surgery
    • Patient Services
    • Security & Parking Services
    • Office of the Patient Experience
    • For International Patients
    • Lodging & Nearby Services
    • Around Westwood
    • Gift Shops & Flowers
    • Patient Greeting Cards
    • Log in to myUCLAhealth
    • Billing and Insurance
    • Medical Records
    • Accountable Care Organization (ACO)
    • Price Transparency
    • Interactive Patient Education Videos (Emmi)
    • FAQs
    • Calendar of Events
    • Secure Email Messages
    • Health Resources
    • Share your story. Connect. Share. Improve. UCLA Health
    • Share Your Story
    • Send a Care Compliment
    • Health Publications
    • Vital Signs Newsletters
    • Health Tips for Parents
    • Contact Us
    • Appointments: Call, Click, Come in
    • Admissions Information
    • Advance Directive
    • Directions & Parking
    • Patient Services
    • Medical Records
    • myUCLAhealth
    • Smoke-Free
    • Publications
    • Health Resources
    • Around Westwood
    • Lodging
    • Preparing For Surgery
    • Patient-focused Technology Council
    • Health Forms
    • End of Life Option Act: Resources & Materials
    • Frequently Asked Questions
    • Secure Email Messages
    • Gift Shops
  • For Healthcare Professionals
    • Referring a Patient
    • Continuing Medical Education
    • Ethics Center
    • UCLA HealthLink
    • Physician to Physician Access Line (P2P)
    • David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
    • Clinical Informatics Fellowship
    • Academic Positions
    • Physician Careers
    • UCLA School of Dentistry
    • UCLA School of Nursing
    • Department of Nursing

    Physician Publications

    • Physicians Update
    • Clinical Updates
    • U Magazine
    • Physician to Physician Access Line (P2P)
    • Physician Careers
    • Clinical Informatics Fellowship
    • Flu Resources for Healthcare Professionals
    • Publications
  • Multimedia
    • UCLAMDCHAT Webinars
    • Community Health Program Videos
    • Closer to a Cure LLS Series
    • iTunes
    • Download Our Apps
    • Mini Med School
    • Demystifying Cancer Forum
    • TEDx UCLA Videos
    • Tips from our Physical Therapists
    • Patient Stories
    • Real Questions
    • Webinars on Demand
    • Pediatric Grand Rounds
    • Tune in to watch our health webinars
    • Community Health Program Videos
    • UCLAMDChat Webinars
    • iTunes
    • Download Our Apps
    • UCLA Health Zone Radio and Podcast
    • Mini Med School
    • Closer to A Cure
    • Demystifying Cancer Forum
    • TEDx UCLA Videos
    • Tips From Our Physical Therapists
    • Patient Stories
    • Real Questions
    • Back Pain Management
  • Find a Provider
  • UCLA Health
  • myUCLAhealth
  • School of Medicine

News Releases

  1. Home
  2. About Us
  3. News Releases

News Releases

Health and Behavior

Mindfulness training helpful in the recovery of adults addicted to stimulants

08/04/2016

Meditation and other mindfulness strategies may reduce the likelihood of relapse for certain people struggling to break their addiction to stimulants including cocaine and methamphetamine, a UCLA study suggests.

Results of the small clinical trial, published online this week in the journal Mindfulness, showed that mindfulness training is particularly beneficial for adults dependent on stimulants who have been diagnosed with depression or anxiety, common disorders among people with substance addiction.

“When stimulant users attempt to quit, some of the most frequent complaints have to do with intolerable feelings of depression, sadness and anxiety, conditions that often lead people to drop out of treatment early,’’ said Suzette Glasner, lead author of the study and associate professor at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. “Mindfulness practice not only helps them to manage cravings and urges, but also enables them to better cope with the psychological discomfort that can precipitate a relapse.”

Nearly 34 million people worldwide use amphetamine-type stimulants and 17 million use cocaine, according to the United Nations Office on Drug Use and Crime. During the past decade the production and use of amphetamine-type stimulants have grown dramatically. Chronic use of these highly addictive substances can cause physical and mental health complications including cardiovascular problems, increased susceptibility to infectious diseases, depression, anxiety and paranoia.

Mindfulness is widely recognized as an effective strategy for reducing stress and anxiety. But the idea that it could be helpful for people struggling with addictions is relatively new. In recent years, studies of mindfulness in addiction treatment have focused on people who are dependent on either alcohol, drugs or both. The UCLA study looked specifically at the impact of a mindfulness training program for people addicted to stimulants. The researchers found the program produced psychological benefits for all participants, and helped those struggling with psychological symptoms to remain off drugs.

Participants underwent a program known as “mindfulness based relapse prevention,” which uses meditation techniques to help direct people’s attention to their experience in the present, without judging themselves for what they are feeling or thinking. Learning to tolerate discomfort without reacting to it is a coping strategy that has been shown to be helpful for other psychological problems.

Unlike some prior studies, UCLA’s research introduced mindfulness training early in the recovery process, when patients were still struggling with severe addictions. “This is very encouraging, as it suggests that mindfulness is an accessible coping strategy even for addicted adults who are still feeling restless or uncomfortable with withdrawal symptoms,” said Glasner, who is principal investigator at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs.

In the randomized clinical study, 63 adults with stimulant dependence received a standard behavioral treatment for stimulant addiction for 12 weeks. After four weeks, participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: one that received mindfulness training designed specifically for addiction treatment, or a control group that received health education. At the completion of the 12 weeks, the UCLA researchers measured changes in the participants’ use of stimulants, as well as in their symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Among the participants with major depression, 87 percent who got mindfulness training were not using stimulants at the end of the 12 weeks, versus 62 percent of the depressed patients who received only health education. A month after the treatment, 100 percent of the depressed patients who received mindfulness training were no longer using stimulants, compared to 50 percent of the patients in the control group. Similar patterns were observed for study participants with anxiety disorders.

“Our findings suggest that mindfulness is especially helpful for people who struggle with anxiety and depression along with their addiction,” Glasner said. “This might be because part of their reason for using drugs is to deal with those uncomfortable emotions. Mindfulness helps them manage their symptoms on their own, without turning to drugs and alcohol.”

People addicted to stimulants are particularly reliant on behavioral therapies because, unlike people who abuse alcohol and opioids, there are no federally approved medications available.

The UCLA team is now planning a clinical trial focused on stimulant-addicted adults who have depression and anxiety to see if the findings will be replicated with a larger group of those who benefited most from the mindfulness training.

The study was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health. In addition to Glasner, other study authors include Dr. Larissa Mooney, Alfonso Ang, Mary-Lynn Brecht and Richard Rawson, researchers at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs; Emily Hartwell, a predoctoral psychology trainee at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs; and Hélène Chokron Garneau, a graduate student researcher at UCLA Integrated Substance Abuse Programs.



Media Contact
Dan Gordon



Latest News

Health and Behavior
Chronic opioid treatment may raise risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, study finds
12/03/2019
The UCLA-led team found that chronic opioid use increased the susceptibility to developing anxiety disorders.

Health and Behavior
UCLA launches new master's degree in genetic counseling in fall 2020
12/03/2019
Degree program will help meet the rising demand for specialists trained to guide patients facing complex genetic disorders.

Health and Behavior
Automated technique helps identify cancer cell metabolism inhibitors
12/02/2019
Research brief: The new method, using robotics, will speed up how researchers test for therapies that block the metabolism of non-small-cell lung cancer tumors.

Health and Behavior
David Geffen adds $46 million to landmark medical scholarships program
12/02/2019

UCLA has received an additional $46 million gift from longtime supporter and legendary entertainment visionary David Geffen, a reinvestment that brings the amount of the David Geffen Medical Scholarship Fund to $146 million.


Health and Behavior
Many pregnancies are shorter as climate change causes more 90-degree days
12/02/2019
From 1969 to 1988, researchers estimated, about 25,000 births per year were affected.

Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube LinkedIn
UCLA Health hospitals ranked best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report
  • UCLA Health
  • Find a Doctor
  • School of Medicine
  • School of Nursing
  • UCLA Campus
  • Directory
  • Newsroom
  • Subscribe
  • Patient Stories
  • Giving
  • Careers
  • Volunteer
  • International Services
  • Privacy Practices
  • Nondiscrimination
  • Billing
  • Health Plans
  • Emergency
  • Report Broken Links
  • Terms of Use
  • 1-800-UCLA-MD1
  • Maps & Directions
  • Contact Us
  • Your Feedback
  • Report Misconduct
  • Get Social
  • Sitemap

Sign in to myUCLAhealth