[A proposal for a protocol of neuropsychological assessment for use in addictions]

Interest in the brain processes involved in establishing, maintaining and overcoming addictions has led to the development, in recent years, of a number of neurocognitive models with a substantial amount of empirical support. However, agreement still needs to be reached regarding the clinical evaluation tests that can be administered and the reason for doing so. The aim of this work is to outline some of the most useful neuropsychological tests for evaluating addicts, as well as the scales of day-to-day symptoms and occupational performance tests that have been validated in Spanish for this population.

The cognitive sub-processes addressed in this work, which have proved to be useful in the syndromic diagnosis of addictions, are processing speed, selective and sustained attention, alternating and divided attention, attentional amplitude and central executive, memory, cognitive flexibility and fluency, response inhibition, planning, abstraction, decision-making and, lastly, theory of mind. A protocol involving two 50-minute sessions is proposed, where the second session is optional depending on the needs and suitability in each case.

This protocol offers several important advantages for physicians, including systemisation, the possibility of replication and convergence among evaluators or delimitation of the sub-processes that can be evaluated by sharing the same scheme. Moreover, it can all be carried out in sessions that are short enough to allow them to be offered by nearly all services that attend to addicts who request treatment.