Therapeutic approach altering behaviors through distressing experiences; examples include electric shock treatment for homosexuality and nausea-inducing drugs for alcoholism, sparking debate and criticism.
Aversion Therapy (AT) is a weird-sounding concept that's all about associating nasty experiences with bad habits in an attempt to ditch them. This therapy is also known as "aversive conditioning" or "deterrent therapy."
People often receive AT as a treatment for habits related to addiction, such as smoking or alcohol use issues. However, it's not the most common method used to manage substance abuse.
AT has been swirling in controversy since day one, and some mental health professionals think it's not cool at all. Questions still lingering about AT's long-term effectiveness as a treatment for addiction-related issues.
So, What's the Point of Aversion Therapy?
AT works by repeatedly linking an undesirable behavior or habit with an unpleasant sensation to create an association that makes the behavior unappealing. The goal is to either eliminate or significantly reduce the bad habit.
What Kind of Habits Can Aversion Therapy Help With?
Here are some examples of behavior patterns that AT might aid in controlling:
- nail biting
- smoking
- Alcohol use disorder (AUD), including alcohol misuse and AUD
- gambling addiction
A Few Examples of Aversion Therapy
Curious about what AT looks like in action? Check out these examples:
Emetic Counter Conditioning
Alcohol lovers with AUD might benefit from Emetic Counter Conditioning (ECC), a type of AT. In several ECC sessions, a person takes medication to induce nausea and vomiting. They then taste and swallow a variety of alcoholic beverages, learning to associate drinking alcohol with the yucky feeling of nausea or being sick.
Graphic Warning Labels
Graphic warning labels on cigarette packs, mandatory in a whopping 118 countries, display images of the grim consequences of smoking, such as diseased lungs and cancerous tumors. These labels are like AT because they pair smoking with disturbing or upsetting images.
Rapid Smoking
Rapid smoking involves puffing on a cigarette every few seconds to create uncomfortable sensations that make smoking intolerable. The aim is to reduce nicotine dependence.
As per a 2016 review, rapid smoking isn't effective as a long-term treatment for those who want to quit smoking.
Rubber Band Aversion Therapy
Rubber Band Aversion Therapy (RBAT) is a treatment for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). In RBAT, a person wears a rubber band on their wrist and snaps it whenever they have an intrusive thought. By repeatedly LINKING the pain of the rubber band with the intrusive thought, the person learns to associate these thoughts with physical pain and experiences fewer intrusive thoughts. However, according to a 2010 review, RBAT isn't an effective therapy for OCD.
Does Aversion Therapy Actually Work?
Research shows that AT can help reduce addictive behaviors in the short term.
In a small 2017 study, researchers looked at the effects of ECC on alcohol-related brain activity in 13 people with AUD. Over five sessions, participants took medication to induce nausea and drank alcoholic beverages.
Participants reported alcohol aversion or avoidance at 30 and 90 days after treatment, and 69% of participants said they were still sober 12 months later.
Brain scans before and after the treatment showed significant reductions in craving-related brain activity, suggesting that ECC might be a useful treatment for AUD, although more research is needed to confirm whether these effects are long-lasting.
Studies on the effectiveness of AT for other addiction-related behaviors, like smoking and overeating, are relatively scarce.
Some research indicates that AT can effectively reduce the desire for certain foods in the short term but that these effects are temporary. And as for nicotine addiction, a 2016 review notes that AT doesn't appear to be an effective long-term treatment.
Why is Aversion Therapy a Hot Topic?
Some mental health professionals believe that AT is unethical because it involves doling out punishment as a form of therapy.
AT has a history of controversy. Conversion therapy, a form of AT previously used to "treat" homosexuality (which was considered a mental health disorder until 1973), was controversial. Some doctors believed conversion therapy could change a person's sexual orientation, and many were forced into the therapy against their will, while others chose it out of shame, guilt, or social pressure.
A 2022 review noted that some mental health practitioners still engage in so-called conversion therapy today, and the authors called for it to be banned in U.S. states.
The use of AT for addiction-related behaviors is also under fire. Some mental health professionals view the treatment as ineffective and unethical because it might cause psychological or physical discomfort or pain.
- In certain instances, Aversion Therapy (AT) has been utilized as an alternative medicine approach to address habits related to alcohol use disorders (AUD), smoking, and gambling addiction.
- Psychology and psychiatry professionals have raised concerns about the long-term effectiveness of AT as a treatment for addiction-related issues.
- Aversion Therapy works by linking an undesirable behavior or habit with an unpleasant sensation to create an association that makes the behavior unappealing, with the goal of either eliminating or reducing the bad habit.
- Emetic Counter Conditioning (ECC), a type of AT, exposes alcohol lovers with AUD to a series of medications that induce nausea and vomiting while they taste and swallow various alcoholic beverages.
- The practice of applying graphic warning labels on cigarette packs, mandatory in 118 countries, showcases images of the grim consequences of smoking, thereby pairing smoking with disturbing or upsetting images.
- Rapid smoking, a method that involves puffing on a cigarette every few seconds to create uncomfortable sensations, has been found to be ineffective as a long-term treatment for those who want to quit smoking, as per a 2016 review.
- While Aversion Therapy has shown promise in reducing addictive behaviors in the short term, such as in a 2017 study on the effects of ECC on alcohol-related brain activity, more research is required to confirm the long-term effectiveness of AT, particularly in areas like nicotine addiction and overeating. Furthermore, some mental health practitioners consider AT unethical due to the potential for psychological or physical discomfort or pain during treatment.
