According to Volkow et al. (2004) successful strategies for behavioral treatment in drug addiction may include (1) interventions aimed to decrease the reward value of the drug and simultaneously increase values of natural reinforcement; (2) approaches aimed to change stereotype conditioned drug-seeking behaviors; and (3) methods to train and strengthen frontal inhibitory control. Because stressful events can result in relapse to drug taking behavior (Koob and Le Moal 2001), an adjunct treatment strategy is to interfere with the neurobiological responses to stress (Goeders 2003; Koob and Le Moal 2001). Treatment of comorbid mental conditions may also require the concurrent treatment of drug addiction. In some cases, however, comorbid drug addiction may result from attempts to alleviate the psychiatric disorder through self-medication (i.e., co-occurring cocaine use and ADHD and/or heroin addiction co-occurring with PTSD). In other cases, severity of a psychiatric disorder symptom may increase as a result of drug abuse (Volkow et al. 2003, 2004).
