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A Syracuse University psychology professor received a $1.3 million grant to develop a treatment for people struggling with alcohol or opioid addiction as a result of chronic pain.

Joseph Ditre, an associate professor of psychology and director of the Pain and Addiction Research Lab, received the grant from the National Institute On Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Ditre has studied the correlation between substance abuse and chronic pain, when he conducted a master’s thesis that studied the effects of pain on nicotine cravings and cigarette smoking behavior. 

“This study helped set the stage for our new project focused on hazardous drinking and co-use of alcohol and opioid medications among individuals with chronic pain,” Ditre said.

Ditre will use the grant to develop a computer-based personal feedback system that assesses a patient’s behavior and then provides personalized feedback on how to reduce alcohol and drug consumption. He’s used personal feedback technology in previous studies as well, he said. 

This technology is easily accessible and can work in multiple formats, such as a smartphone app, according to a press release from the College of Arts and Sciences.

Ditre and psychology professor Stephen Maisto previously received a five-year, $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health in 2015 to fund a study on the correlation between chronic pain and alcohol consumption. That study looks at whether alcohol consumption increases as pain increases, and whether people are more likely to consume alcohol when in pain. 

Participants in the program will first answer questions regarding their current alcohol and drug usage. Then, the feedback system will use those answers to provide personalized feedback to the individual in about 20 to 30 minutes, Ditre said.

Participants in the program will receive free treatment and compensation for their time. Ditre’s hope is that once the system is tested, the intervention will become more widely-used. This will also help reduce patient and provider costs, he said.

The program will be up and running soon and will involve SU students, Ditre said.

“One of the main goals that participants will come to recognize is that their drinking and opioid use behaviors may actually be interfering with their goals for reducing pain and functional impairment,” Ditre said.

Published on September 23, 2020 at 12:35 am

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