Neuroscience-Informed Psychoeducation for Substance Use Disorder Treatment: From Brain Awareness to Brain Recovery Capital Publisher

Summary: Could brain science improve addiction education? A proposed framework aims to reduce shame and support treatment readiness; effectiveness needs testing. #Addiction #Neuroscience

Rezapour T ; Baldacchino A M ; Dalley A ; Berry J ; Chilka S ; Copersino M L ; Farhoudian A ; Jin J ; Powers S ; Grigsby T ; Vassileva J ; Ekhtiari H
Source: Progress in Brain Research Published:2026

Abstract

Substance use disorders continue to affect millions of people worldwide, yet a striking proportion never receive treatment. Poor awareness, internalized stigma, and neurobiological changes in the circuits responsible for self-monitoring all contribute to this gap in ways that conventional psychoeducation has not adequately addressed. Recent advances in addiction neuroscience offer a more precise and less stigmatizing language for understanding these barriers, one that reframes addiction as a brain disorder rather than a moral failure and opens new possibilities for how we educate patients about their condition. Neuroscience-informed psychoeducation, or NIPE, builds on this foundation. It integrates current addiction neuroscience into an educational program designed to improve insight, reduce shame, and strengthen motivation for treatment and recovery. This paper proposes a clinical stage-based NIPE framework organized around the Transtheoretical Model of Health Behavior Change, mapping specific educational content and delivery priorities to seven stages of the recovery trajectory. The goal is an approach that meets people where they actually are in both their motivational readiness and their neurobiological capacity to engage. An example of a NIPE package for recovery and future directions to deliver effective NIPE and promote brain recovery are discussed. Copyright © 2026. Published by Elsevier B.V.