Effectiveness of Emotion-Regulation Interventions on Substance Misuse and Emotion Regulation Outcomes in Individuals with Substance Dependence: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Purpose of Review: Substance dependence across multiple substances is consistently associated with emotion dysregulation. In the last two decades, emotion regulation interventions have been developed and applied from cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and mindfulness-based interventions for substance dependence. Recent Findings: While previous reviews have focused solely on cognitive behavioral therapy or mindfulness interventions and have found positive outcomes regarding reductions in substance use, aggregate results of clinical outcomes across different emotion-regulation interventions have not been identified to this date. Summary: Through our systematic review of 26 studies, our meta-analysis of 10 studies on reduction in substance use, and 11 studies on improvement in emotion regulation outcomes, we found that improved outcomes have been demonstrated across diverse measures from self-report questionnaires to respiratory sinus arrhythmia. Although most emotion-regulation interventions have demonstrated a significant moderate effect size regarding the reduction in substance use and improvement in emotion regulation, mindfulness-based interventions have significantly driven the improvements in emotion regulation. No demographic variables (e.g., age, sex) nor study-design variables (e.g., intervention frequency, intervention length) significantly influenced the reduction in substance use from ER interventions. Our findings demonstrate the importance of cost-effective methods like mindfulness-based interventions towards addressing maladaptive substance use and the broad appeal of emotion regulation interventions to improve the outcomes of individuals afflicted with substance dependence.