Recent research suggests mindfulness meditation may be effective in preventing relapses of drug and alcohol abuse.
Sarah Bowen, a researcher at the University of Washington, says of the people who seek help with an addiction each year, 40 to 60 percent relapse.
A recent study divided people who had completed substance abuse programs into treatments using three different approaches: mindfulness meditation, relapse-prevention, and the 12-step method.
The participants were assessed at three intervals over the following year. Twelve months later, fewer meditation participants reported relapsing – in the case of both drug and alchohol use – than participants from the other two treatments.
For more about the study, click here. You can also read the report on the trial, here.
To read more, check out Elisha Goldstein’s article on using mindfulness techniques to deal with addiction. Also see Mindful’s former Associate Editor Carsten Knox’s interview with Judson Brewer, whose Craving to Quit program and phone app help people deal with smoking addictions.
