Wuhan, China — To fulfill the needs of drug rehabilitation work in the new era and to make the drug rehabilitation work more scientific and professional, the Drug Rehabilitation Administration of Chinese Ministry of Justice has started the application and promotion of new technologies and methods for drug rehabilitation since 2018. After the expert review, the “Motivation-Skill-Desensitization-mental Energy” (MSDE) intervention model developed by Professor Wang Zengzhen’s research group has been on the first list of “Project of Application and Generalization of New Techniques and Methods for Drug Detoxification and Rehabilitation”, and will be applied and generalized nationwide.
The MSDE intervention is a multi-component relapse prevention strategy. It selects, refines, re-innovates, and validates the effective psychological and behavioral treatments to address the multiple risks of relapse. Low levels of readiness to change, poor coping skills for high-risk situations, intense experiences of craving, and negative emotions were classified as primary determinants of relapse in the MSDE intervention protocol. Based on the determinants above, the MSDE intervention integrates effective interventions (i.e., motivation enhancement therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, desensitization, mindfulness practice, neuro-linguistic program, and family therapy) to provide a comprehensive psychological intervention for patients with substance use disorders. After several clinical trials and long-term follow-up studies, the sound effects of the MSDE intervention has been supported. The MSDE intervention has been proved to effectively increase the patients’ readiness to change, improve their coping skills, reduce their cue sensitivity and craving, enhance their mental energy, improve their mental health status, thus to help them preventing relapse and maintaining long-term abstinence.
Nowadays, most of the theories and technologies of psychological intervention applied in China are developed in the context of Western culture. In contrast, the MSDE intervention model is an effort to “localize” the theories and technologies of psychological interventions in China. In this case, being on the first list of “Project of Application and Generalization of New Techniques and Methods for Drug Detoxification and Rehabilitation”, indicating that Professor Zengzhen Wang’s efforts have been recognized by national governments and experts.
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