Exploring the potential of D-cycloserine and cannabidiol to enhance cue exposure therapies in substance dependence

成瘾是药物和酒精使用的主要长期有害影响之一。不幸的是，成瘾的心理和药物治疗往往不成功。在成瘾行为治疗方面取得了一些进展，这可能涉及使成瘾者暴露在药物/酒精使用的提醒中，同时防止他们实际服用药物/饮酒。这被称为暴露和反应预防（ERP）疗法。然而，许多完成这类治疗的人在存在毒品诱惑或提醒的环境中仍然复发。这是因为影响吸毒的记忆特别强烈，并自动触发吸毒/饮酒。然而，如果心理治疗与提高学习能力的药物相结合，那么旧的、吸毒的记忆可能会消失。重写了吗更成功。一种名为D-环丝氨酸（DCS）的药物已成功用于与ERP结合治疗焦虑症。另一种药物，大麻二酚（CBD），已被证明是有效的成瘾动物时，它与ERP的一个版本相结合。由于在药物/酒精成瘾和焦虑症中发生的心理过程中存在一些相似之处，我们想研究DCS和CBD是否可以改善药物/酒精成瘾的心理治疗。如果他们能做到这一点，这可能是治疗成瘾这一非常有害的疾病的一个重要突破。

Addiction is one of the key long-term harmful effects of drug and alcohol use. Unfortunately, psychological and pharmacological treatments for addiction are often unsuccessful. Some progress has been made in behavioural treatments for addiction which may involve exposing addicts to reminders of their drug / alcohol use, while preventing them from actually taking the drug/drinking. This is called exposure and response prevention (ERP) therapy. However, many who complete this type of treatment still relapse when they are in environments where temptations or reminders of drug use are present. This happens because memories which influence drug-use are particularly strong and automatically trigger drug taking / drinking. However, it is possible that if psychological treatment is combined with a drug which improves learning, old, drug-taking memories might be ?over-written? more successfully. One drug called D-Cycloserine (DCS) has been successfully used in treating anxiety disorders when combined with ERP. Another drug, cannabidiol (CBD), has proved effective in addicted animals when it is combined with a version of ERP. Since there are some parallels in the psychological processes which occur in drug / alcohol addiction and anxiety disorders, we want to investigate whether DCS and CBD can improve psychological treatment for drug / alcohol addiction. If they can, this may prove to be an important breakthrough in the treatment of the very harmful disorder of addiction.