About this Research Topic

Background

Over the last decade, methamphetamine use has spread rapidly in Europe, particularly in young adults leading to a significant medical shortfall in many regions. Despite initial political and medical countermeasures, such as the publication of a German S3 Guideline for the treatment of methamphetamine-related disorders, the problem remains unsolved. Meanwhile, a severe methamphetamine-related burden has existed in the US and Australia since the 1990s. Accordingly, much progress has been made in improving behavioral therapeutic interventions and in identifying the neurobiology of methamphetamine-use disorder, however, methamphetamine use still remains a public health concern and still little is known about the neurobiological mechanisms affecting higher order cognitive functions relevant for daily life behavior. However, these mechanisms are important to investigate, since a reasonable level of cognitive control is mandatory for treatment programs.

The Standardized MATRIX program, which was designed in the US for long-term psychotherapeutic intervention for the methamphetamine-use disorder has been adopted in European countries, however, the extent to which it can establish itself in the healthcare and counteract the medical shortfall remains to be seen. In addition, a comprehensive examination of trans-regional findings is limited and it is unclear whether findings on methamphetamine-use disorder are transferable across countries. For example, the question of whether environmental differences affect the initiation and maintenance of drug use or whether the populations differ in systematic characteristics relevant to treatment is unknown. Knowledge gained on key variables that affect cognitive deficits and treatment outcome in different populations of methamphetamine-use disorder would have a substantial impact in moving the field forward.

The idea of this Research Topic was born between US researchers from the world's leading working groups on methamphetamine and dedicated addiction researchers from Dresden (Germany), a city massively affected by the expanding methamphetamine problem. Through the dialogue and exchange associated with this, we see this Research Topic as a great opportunity for the many patients who have often lost all perspective due to methamphetamine use.

We are calling for papers examining any aspect of methamphetamine and its associated psychiatric disorders. Accordingly, we welcome original studies, review or theoretical papers on epidemiological or neurobiological aspects, emotional regulation, and the role of personality and therapeutic interventions designed to enhance motivational changes or produce personality change in people afflicted by addictions.

Keywords: Methamphetamine, Medical Shortfall, Neurobiology, Therapy, Transferability

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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