Treatment method aimed at reducing unwanted behaviors or urges through painful or unpleasant stimuli, often applied to sexual orientation or substance abuse cases, presenting various examples and sparking widespread debate.
Aversion therapy, or "aversive conditioning", is an unorthodox strategy in behavioral treatment that links unfavorable behaviors with unpleasant experiences with the aim of discouraging them. It's primarily used to tackle addiction-related actions, like smoking and alcohol use disorder (AUD).
People might come across this therapy as treatment for AUD and smoking, but it's less common than other methods for dealing with substance use disorders.
The concept is simple: repetitively pairing an undesirable behavior with an unpleasant experience creates an aversion to that behavior. This can apply to habits such as nail biting, tobacco smoking, and gambling addiction.
Examples of Aversion Therapy
- Emetic Counter Conditioning (ECC): This type of therapy attempts to curb alcohol cravings by linking drinking with feelings of nausea or vomiting. A person ingests medication to induce nausea, then consumes various alcoholic beverages over multiple sessions.
- Graphic Warning Labels: Mandatory in 118 countries, these labels on cigarette packs show images of potential health consequences, such as cancerous tumors and diseased lungs. The idea is to create an association between smoking and upsetting images.
- Rapid Smoking: Puffing on a cigarette every few seconds triggers unpleasant sensations that help reduce nicotine dependence. However, a 2016 review found this method to be ineffective as a long-term treatment for quitting smoking.
- Rubber Band Aversion Therapy (RBAT): Primarily used for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), individuals wear a rubber band and snap it whenever they have an obsessive thought. The pain is meant to be associated with the thought, leading to fewer obsessive thoughts. Yet, a 2010 review concluded that RBAT is ineffective for treating OCD.
Taking a look at the research, it appears that aversion therapy can diminish addictive behaviors in the short term. A 2017 study, for instance, suggested that emetic counter conditioning could potentially be an effective short-term treatment for AUD, despite questions regarding its long-term effectiveness.
On the downside, some mental health professionals see this treatment as unethical due to its reliance on punishment. In the past, practices like conversion therapy (which aimed to change sexual orientation) were forms of aversion therapy that were considered unethical.
This therapy is still a topic of debate within the mental health community, with some critiquing its long-term effectiveness and others raising ethical concerns about potentially causing psychological or physical distress.
- Aversion therapy, a behavioral treatment strategy, links unfavorable actions like alcohol use disorder (AUD) and smoking to unpleasant experiences in an effort to discourage them.
- Alternative medicine often includes aversion therapy as a treatment option for AUD and smoking, but it's less common than other methods.
- Emetic Counter Conditioning (ECC), a type of aversion therapy, focuses on curbing alcohol cravings by linking drinking with feelings of nausea or vomiting.
- Graphic warning labels on cigarette packs, an example of aversion therapy, display images of potential health consequences to create an association between smoking and upsetting images.
- Rapid Smoking, another instance of aversion therapy, triggers unpleasant sensations by making a person puff on a cigarette every few seconds, helping to reduce nicotine dependence.
- Aversion therapy, despite its potential short-term effectiveness in diminishing addictive behaviors, remains a topic of controversy within the mental health community due to questions about its long-term effectiveness and ethical concerns.
- In the health-and-wellness and mental-health domains, therapies-and-treatments like aversion therapy should consider their long-term impacts on health and whether they align with the principles of science and ethics in 2022.
