Stimulus Management In Addictions

Stimulus management in addiction is a fundamental technique for quitting a destructive habit. Stimulus management techniques attempt to eliminate the kinds of stimuli (stimulants) that trigger addictive behavior. While this article is more about addictions, stimulus control is also appropriate in the context of any destructive habit.

Behavioral techniques serve as a framework for this technique, self-control in particular. They are concrete actions aimed at eliminating, replacing, or changing stimuli. This way they can lead you to the reaction you wish to eliminate.

As we mentioned above, the technique is quite simple. All you need to do is make secondary changes to avoid falling into this kind of behavior.

However, just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s easy to get results. Of course, if both the therapist and patient approach it with empathy and dedication, results are virtually guaranteed.

Empathy

First of all, the therapist must be empathetic with the person in front of him or her. He must do so without losing touch with reality. This is because not all the desired stimuli will be suitable. So they will have to find other alternatives.

The patient must also be highly motivated and convinced that he wants to change. According to the Prochaska and Di Clemente Model, it will be difficult for the patient to perform stimulus control if he is in the precontemplative or contemplative phase.

The patient must make a decision and commit to follow the guidelines of their therapist.

Ways to Perform Stimulus Control

There are many ways to practice stimulus control. These range from directly eliminating the stimulus that triggers the response, to making physiological changes in the body. Either way, the therapist knows his patient can do it. Most importantly, though, the task should actually be doable.

This last point will therefore depend very much on the case and on the resources of the person, such as social support, self-control and motivation.

In this regard, it is clear that it is a better idea to work on the first links of the behavioral chain. So if you are emotionally dependent on a person and whether or not you call that person depends entirely on your alcohol consumption, you need to work on your urge to drink rather than the behavior that causes you to avoid the conversation.

How do you perform stimulus control

Remove background incentives

This is a particularly good alternative when the addictive behavior is quite severe and a person lacks self-control. In a situation where someone is trying to quit smoking who feels the need to smoke a cigar when drinking coffee.

In this case, the therapist should advise them to cut out coffee altogether. This is because that addicted person has much more self-control in that aspect, so they would avoid smoking in that situation.

Reduce background stimuli

This form of stimulus control is better in the case of people who have some self-control. They cannot therefore completely eliminate the background stimuli. For example, if they have a strong impulse to buy things every time they leave the house.

In that case, it is much more realistic to ask them to leave their credit cards at home and carry less cash with them. So it wouldn’t be realistic to tell them to cancel the credit cards or leave home without cash.

Postpone the behavior

Another quite effective way to deal with addictive behaviors is by making a promise to delay the behavior. There are times when people feel a strong impulse to go to the fridge and eat more.

In that case, they should make it a point not to go at least for the next twenty minutes. At the same time, it’s important to do something else to distract yourself. If they stick to this commitment, there’s a good chance their cravings will be gone after that.

Make changes at a physiological level

Finally, a good option to avoid falling into the addictive trap is to make changes in your own organism. There is a case of stimulus control for severe cases of alcoholism.

It is a medicine called Disulfiram or Antabuse (English link). Alcoholics take the drug and its action in their body is to suppress the enzyme responsible for the metabolism of alcohol (aldehyde dehydrogenase).

The person will therefore react badly when exposed to alcohol: he may vomit, have palpitations and sweat.

Aside from this extreme case of stimulus control, another example of using the changes that occur at the physiological level would be to go grocery shopping after lunch. That way one would not be hungry, so that one would not reach for unhealthy food.

Conclusions on stimulus control in addictions

When done properly, stimulus control in addictions is very effective. However, it is difficult if it is the only method you resort to. So you should use it along with other techniques to maximize your success.

Cognitive techniques have also been shown to be useful in addictions. Its purpose is to change the patient’s false beliefs about his attachment problems. In the same way, they can also work with other methods, such as relaxation techniques, to better cope with their withdrawal and achieve mindfulness.