How To Fight Drug Cravings With Video Games
ABC News has published an article extolling the virtues of virtual reality in helping addicts deal with the issue of fighting off drug cravings as they go through recovery. This is great for those who are treating their opiate addiction at home using Suboxone, since the support provided by NA meetings and measures like this one can help take the edge off on the days when it’s harder than others to stick to the treatment.
The Idea Behind the Game
Duke University professor Zach Rosenthal created the new video game in attempt to provide those in recovery with the virtual practice they need to successfully avoid the pitfalls of temptation in everyday life. It’s like a therapy session in your living room that allows you to act out saying “no” so that when you stumble across temptation in real life, you’ll have some experience to go on. The foundational theory here is that since drug cravings are learned, so too can they be unlearned. The game supplies a tone and associates it with the decreased cravings in an effort to provide a trigger for not using drugs that will combat the triggers that occur and cause cravings in life. Pick up the phone provided, hear the tone, remember the therapy and walk away from temptation.
Says Professor Zach Rosenthal: “What we’re trying to do is take people into a virtual crack-related neighborhood or crack-related setting and have them experience cravings, just like they would in the real world. This isn’t really about substance use. This is about creating new learning and extending that learning to the real world.”
So…Does It Work?
One person who tried out the game had only good things to say about it: “The program has done wonders for me. Although I have fallen since I came out of the program, I am clean and have been clean for a good while.”
Want to find out more about this thing? Check out Duke Science and get the details.
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