Mindfulness-Oriented Therapy Reduces Craving for Opioids

Key points

Ongoing opioid use for chronic pain decreases the pleasure found in naturally rewarding experiences.

Mindfulness practice can reduce stress and anxiety, and help people better manage their chronic pain.

Mindfulness-oriented treatment can help rewire the brain’s response to healthy pleasure and reduce cravings.

Research suggests that this could be an especially promising approach in the treatment of opioid addiction.

Mindfulness is an approach to living with greater conscious attention, intention, and skill based on specific practices that facilitate this experience. These practices help people cultivate present-centered awareness of their internal and external experience—whether painful or pleasurable—with acceptance, and without judgment.

Mindfulness practices have been