ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Addictive Disorders
This article is part of the Research TopicBeyond Abstinence: Harm Reduction and Its Impact on Addiction DisordersView all articles
The impact of memory training on abstinence among individuals with alcohol use disorder
Provisionally accepted
Maurice Cabanis1*
Marie-Christine Kuhl2Tilman Wetterling2Matthias Margraf2
Mohammadali Nikoo3
Jean Nicolas Westenberg3Klaus Junghanns2- 1Klinikum Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
- 2Universitat zu Lubeck, Lübeck, Germany
- 3The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
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Background: Chronic excessive alcohol consumption is associated with cognitive deficits. Patients with cognitive impairment, particularly memory deficits, may have difficulties in acquiring new semantic and procedural information which could affect the effectiveness of clinical treatments. Memory training (MT) as an adjunct to evidence-based treatments is a promising approach to improve memory, cognitive functions, and abstinence rates. The ob-jective of the study was to determine whether MT could positively influence memory func-tion and long-term abstinence in individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) undergoing detoxification. Methods: Patients with AUD were recruited in a two-stage process from a clinic for medical rehabilitation of alcohol dependence in Lübeck, Germany (N=210) and assigned to the con-trol arm (treatment-as-usual only; no-MT) or the experimental arm (treatment-as-usual with MT). At weeks 2, 6, and 10, cognitive function was examined using a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests. The abstinence rate was assessed at months 3 and 6 after dis-charge. Results: Memory performance significantly improved over the course of treatment, among both groups. However, patients who had received MT showed significantly greater im-provement and a significantly higher abstinence rate six months after discharge (53%), com-pared to the no-MT group (36%). Conclusions: Memory training appears to be a promising supplementary therapy for with-drawal treatment of patients with AUD, resulting in improved memory and long-term absti-nence. Future research into the effectiveness of cognitive training should be conducted in other treatment settings and for other substance use disorders.
Keywords: alcohol use disorder, cognitive functioning, memory training, Abstinence, memory performance
Received: 18 Jul 2025; Accepted: 07 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Cabanis, Kuhl, Wetterling, Margraf, Nikoo, Westenberg and Junghanns. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Maurice Cabanis, m.cabanis@klinikum-stuttgart.de
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