Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Dec:60:101934.
doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101934. Epub 2024 Nov 1.

Motivational interviewing-based interventions with patients with comorbid anxiety and substance use disorders

Julia D Buckner  1
Affiliations
Review

Motivational interviewing-based interventions with patients with comorbid anxiety and substance use disorders

Julia D Buckner. Curr Opin Psychol. 2024 Dec.

Abstract

Individuals with substance misuse and substance use disorder (SUD) experience especially high rates of elevated anxiety, including anxiety disorders, and the co-occurrence of these conditions is related to worse treatment outcomes. Given that these patients may have little motivation to change their substance misuse if they use substances to cope with their chronically elevated anxiety, interventions that include components that target motivation may be especially useful. Thus, this paper reviews the recent extant literature on treatments developed specifically for these high-risk patients that include motivational interviewing (MI) techniques to increase motivation for behavioral change. Results indicate that two modalities have been tested - in-person therapies and online interventions. The majority use MI techniques to change substance use and some to change anxiety-related behaviors. The majority also incorporate cognitive-behavioral skills to manage substance use and anxiety. Data indicate that MI techniques can be administered in-person and online to decrease substance misuse and anxiety among patients with elevated anxiety and substance misuse.

Keywords: Alcohol; Anxiety; Cannabis; Motivational interviewing; Smoking; Substance use disorders.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Guillem E, et al., Comorbidity in 207 cannabis users in a specific outpatient setting. L’Encéphale, 2015. 41(1): p. S7–12. - PubMed
    1. Buckner JD and Carroll KM, Effect of anxiety on treatment presentation and outcome: Results from the Marijuana Treatment Project. Psychiatry Research, 2010. 178(3): p. 493–500. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Behrendt S, et al., Impact of comorbid mental disorders on outcomes of brief outpatient treatment for DSM-5 alcohol use disorder in older adults. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 2020. 119. - PubMed
    1. Ouellette MJ, et al., Does cannabis use impact cognitive behavioural therapy outcomes for anxiety and related disorders? A preliminary examination. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 2022. 156: p. 690–697. - PubMed
    1. Baker TB, et al., Addiction motivation reformulated: An affective processing model of negative reinforcement. Psychological Review, 2004. 111(1): p. 33–51. - PubMed

MeSH terms