Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement: Evidence-Based Strategies to Change the Brain & Heal Addiction through Neuroplasticity

Session Description: Addiction has been conceptualized as a brain disease. Consequently, many addiction treatment models rely on medications to change brain function. Although buprenorphine and methadone are “gold standard” treatments that save lives, nonetheless approximately 50% of patients taking these medications relapse within 6 months. However, the brain is neuroplastic and can be changed through mental training. This presentation will discuss an innovative mental training approach called Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE). MORE was generated through a decade-long treatment development process funded by the NIH. Rooted in affective neuroscience, MORE unites mindfulness training, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and principles from positive psychology into an integrative therapy designed to target addiction and its comorbidities (emotional distress and chronic pain). MORE has been tested in 13 randomized clinical trials funded by more than $80 million in federal research grants. In the largest NIH-funded trial of MORE, MORE boosted theta EEG activity to decrease opioid misuse by 45% by 9-month follow-up, nearly tripling the effect of standard group therapy. MORE has also been shown to enhance medication assisted treatment (MAT) outcomes by reducing days of drug use and preventing relapse, while significantly decreasing chronic pain, depression, and PTSD. This session will describe how addiction changes the brain and how these changes can be remediated through MORE’s unique clinical skills and therapeutic approach. Participants will learn how to implement cutting-edge mindfulness, reappraisal, and savoring techniques and how to maximize patient engagement and motivation in skill practice. MORE should now be disseminated widely in addictions treatment across the nation.