Emotional Regulation in Substance-Related and Addictive Disorders Treatment: A Systematic Review

Emotions play an undeniable role in addictive disorders. Given the high relapse and drop-out rates still prevalent in current treatments, it is crucial to explore curative alternatives that take greater account of emotions. The primary objective of this systematic review is to gather literature related to emotion regulation in psychological addictive disorders treatments. The aim is to describe its use for individuals with behavioral (such as gambling disorder, problematic Internet gaming, and Internet addiction) or substance-related disorders. Following a screening of nearly 12,000 articles from six databases and the grey literature, 38 studies that met the selection criteria were included. The results show that 63.2% of the studies had a psychological treatment predominantly based on emotional regulation, with 81.6% (n = 31) of third-wave cognitive-behavioral interventions. The most frequently utilized intervention techniques for emotional regulation were those that facilitated an individual's awareness of their emotional state or provided psychological education to assist in identifying emotions. It would be valuable for future research to explore the most effective content for emotional regulation in treating substance-related and addictive disorders and to determine the specific client population that would benefit the most from this treatment.