(SEPTEMBER 19, 2024) Richard Rawson, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry, was quoted in a WBHM story on contingency management as a treatment for addiction to stimulants.

There are no medications approved for patients with an addiction to cocaine or other stimulants, such as methamphetamine. But there is another approach that more than 30 years of research shows is effective: “contingency management.” In contingency management, patients set frequent, often weekly, goals. If they achieve them, patients receive rewards.

Contingency management redirects a patient’s search for gratification from drugs to abstinence, and the American Society of Addiction Medicine says contingency management should be standard treatment for patients addicted to stimulants.

Studies suggest that rewards need to be substantial to drive behavior change.

“There’s no research to show that $75 will work,” said Richard Rawson, a professor at the University of Vermont’s Center for Behavior and Health, and the author of a paper that argues for removing some of the barriers to offering contingency management.

Read full story at WBHM.org