Aversion therapy can be used to change unwanted or harmful behaviors. Although its use has been quite controversial, it may be an effective treatment for some people.

This form of therapy is a type of behavioral conditioning where people are exposed to an unpleasant stimulus when they partake in unwanted behavior. The idea is that the person will begin to associate the discomfort with the negative behavior and that it will eventually discourage them from doing it.

If you’re considering therapy to manage your behavior, it’s worth understanding what aversion therapy is, how it works, and what makes it controversial. 

What is aversion therapy used for? 

Aversion therapy is done under the supervision and guidance of a trained mental health professional and can effectively treat unwanted behaviors, including drug addiction and alcoholism. 

A very basic way to understand how aversion therapy works is using something that tastes bad on your fingernails to discourage nail biting. If you experience an awful taste every time you put your fingernails in your mouth, you will eventually learn to stop doing it. Aversion therapy is a little more complex than that, but the general idea is the same.

Here are some of the conditions aversion therapy has been used to treat and how that treatment might look. 

Alcohol use disorder

Alcohol triggers the reward center in the brain. People with alcohol use disorder often experience tremendous highs after drinking, making it more likely for them to repeat the behavior. They have also usually developed many conditioned habits that contribute to their drinking. For example, they may associate various people, places, times, and situations with drinking alcohol and that euphoric feeling. People may crave alcohol due to these external cues, and some researchers believe that reducing cravings should be an essential part of treatment for alcohol use disorder.

One way to do this is aversion therapy, specifically medications that induce vomiting called emetics. Just as the brain is wired to make you want to repeat behaviors that make you feel good, it also has a mechanism to help you learn how to avoid unpleasant behaviors that make you feel not so good. People undergoing aversion therapy for alcohol use ingest medication that makes them feel nauseous along with alcohol, the idea being that they will associate the feeling of nausea with drinking and make an association between the two to help them stop.

One study of people with alcohol use disorder found that those treated with chemical aversion therapy aimed at targeting cravings who also learned relapse prevention strategies reported an aversion or avoidance of alcohol at 30 and 90 days after discharge from a treatment center. An impressive 69% of participants reported remaining sober at one year. While this is undoubtedly a positive result, no follow-ups were done after one year, so the long-term effects are unknown. 

Substance misuse

Aversion therapy can also be effective for other forms of substance abuse, though this has been less studied. Research done in 1993 looked at the effects of aversion therapy on people addicted to alcohol and other substances, like cocaine. It found that those who had dealt with their cravings through aversion therapy were likelier to stay clean. After one year, 83.7% of people dependent on both alcohol and cocaine reported total abstinence. That said, this study also found that many other factors contributed to the participants' success when it came to drug use. For example, being around other people who were drinking or using was likely to lead them to relapse, meaning that aversion therapy was not the only factor in their success.

Is it effective?

Some people have seen results from aversion therapy, but whether it will work depends on many other factors. For example, in the abovementioned study about aversion therapy and alcohol use, those who were most successful also learned and implemented relapse prevention strategies.

For some behaviors, aversion therapy may work in theory, but those results don’t easily translate to the real world. Two examples of this are smoking cessation and obesity treatment. 

Aversion therapy for smoking cessation may include shock treatment or rapid smoking, where the person smokes fast so that they are puffing their cigarette every six seconds or so until they cannot tolerate it anymore. The issue is that neither of these scenarios is easily replicated in the person’s day-to-day life, so although they may associate the unwanted stimuli with smoking, these things didn’t create lasting aversions. The practice showed some short-term results, but aversion therapy for smoking is no longer being studied as an effective treatment.

Studies about aversion treatment for obesity treatment found that associating a smell that may lead to overeating, like fresh baked goods, followed by a bad smell, like skunk oil, caused study participants not to want to eat certain foods, but the results did not apply to food in general. That, combined with the fact that there are so many options for substitutions and other tempting foods available, makes aversion therapy unlikely to succeed as a treatment for obesity.

Why is aversion therapy controversial?

One of the most significant problems with aversion therapy is that it addresses the behavior without looking at the deeper issues underneath it. There is no research showing that aversion therapy has any long-term benefits, and, as in the study about aversion therapy mentioned above, it is often more successful when combined with other forms of talk therapy or counseling. 

Some forms of aversion therapy are controversial because they may be harmful. For example, shock therapy is considered unethical and may harm the individual. Aversion therapy is also used in conversion therapy, a practice used to try to change someone’s sexual orientation that targets members of the LGBTQ+ community. The American Psychological Association opposes this practice; research shows it is harmful and ineffective.

Talk to a therapist

Aversion therapy has mixed results and can be quite controversial. Talk to a therapist if you need help managing or overcoming a negative behavior. Different people respond to different types of therapy, and there may be an option that will be a better fit for you. 

Finding a therapist who will work with you to find the best path forward doesn’t have to be as difficult as you might think. MyTherapist is an online system that allows you to find out more information about different therapists and get matched with one who will work with you. You don’t have to visit a physical office; as long as you have an internet connection, you can attend sessions from the comfort of your own home. 

Research shows that online therapy is just as effective as in-person treatment. For example, one review of 14 studies found that online cognitive behavioral therapy led to a 50% improvement in symptoms of multiple forms of anxiety disorder, compulsive gambling, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and depression. If you’re ready to get started, sign up to take the next step.

Takeaway

Aversion therapy uses behavioral conditioning to eliminate unwanted or harmful behavior. While it can work for some people, aversion therapy is quite controversial and may hurt patients in the process. If you have a behavior you need help overcoming, talk to a therapist online to determine the best therapy approach for you.