Cocaine Craving Imagery Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Clinical Study of Imagery-based Coping for Cocaine Use Disorder
IRAS ID
244997
Contact name
John Marsden
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
King's College London
ISRCTN Number
ISRCTN00000000
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 30 days
Research summary
There is currently no approved medication-assisted treatment or specific psychosocial intervention for cocaine use disorder (CUD). General counselling is offered by NHS and NGO addiction services but is not particularly effective. Strong urges or cravings are a distinctive feature of CUD and are often experienced as involuntary, distressing and uncontrollable. Drug cues can induce craving-related experiences (including beliefs and expectancies) and evoke mental imagery. Drug imagery mimics the substance’s pleasurable quality, is affectively charged and vivid and can motivate goal-directed behaviour (drug-seeking and use). If drug-seeking or use is impeded or delayed, drug imagery can highlight the absence of drugs and initially pleasurable imagery can be experienced as distressing and intrusive. Imagery rescripting (IR), a psychotherapeutic tool, uses imagery to alter meaning and reduce the strength of intrusive imagery. IR has recently been successfully applied across various psychological disorders. It is of interest to investigate whether imagery can be used to cope with craving for CUD and the relationship between craving intensity and imagery type.\n\nThis two-week study aims to assess the acceptability and effectiveness of an imagery-based intervention to counter cue-induced craving in individuals with cocaine use disorders. It will explore different types of imagery and temporal conditions for the intervention, in addition to assessing episodic foresight. \n\nParticipants (adult (>18), verified CUD-status) will undergo an initial assessment at a community drug service to construct a clinical and craving profile and generate coping imagery. Following this, participants will be invited to attend a clinical research facility for an episodic foresight assessment and craving induction procedure. After the craving induction, participants are randomised to one of four imagery coping conditions to measure effectiveness in reducing cue-induced craving. Participant physiological data will be collected throughout the craving induction and imagery generation phase of the study.\n
REC name
London - South East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/LO/1013
Date of REC Opinion
30 Jul 2018
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion