title: Addiction, cognitive decline and therapy: seeking ways to escape a vicious cycle.
abstract: Any type of behavioral change is an effortful process. Thus, the process of behavioral therapy, where clients seek to change maladaptive behavioral patterns, requires high-level cognitive engagement. It is unfortunate, then, that cognitive impairment is a feature of substance use disorders (SUDs), and especially because the domains that tend to be impaired are the very ones involved in the process of therapeutic behavioral change. In this review, we compare the cognitive profile that is frequently observed with chronic SUD with the skills that are required to initiate and sustain behavioral change during rehabilitation. Furthermore, we look to new therapeutic developments that seek to improve cognitive function. We propose that the use of these cognitive enhancing agents as adjuncts to behavioral therapy should help to overcome some of the cognitive barriers imposed by the disorder itself, and hence reduce the chance of relapse.
authors: Behavioural Neuroscience Division, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.|Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors: C J
authors: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6155-1469
authors: CJ
authors: Perry
authors: Behavioural Neuroscience Division, The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.|Florey Department of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors: A J
authors: AJ
authors: Lawrence
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000628:therapy
keywords: Abstinence; addiction; animal models; behavioral therapy; cognition; cognitive enhancement; cognitive impairment; exercise; relapse; substance use disorder; therapy