Treatment of Behavioral Addictions Utilizing the Feeling-State Addiction Protocol: A Multiple Baseline Study

This article proposes a new treatment for behavioral addictions, which are commonly treated with some form of cognitive behavioral therapy. The Feeling-State Addiction Protocol (FSAP), based on the feeling-state theory of behavioral and substance addiction, proposes that just as single-event traumas can become fixated with negative feelings, intensely positive events can become fixated with positive feelings. This fixated linkage between an event and a feeling is called a feeling-state (FS). A multiple baseline study of the FSAP was performed using only the steps of the protocol that involved the processing of the FSs. The results of the study of 4 participants (each with at least two compulsions) indicated for 3 of the 4 participants a clear link between the processing of the FSs and reduced reactivity to the visualized behavior. The reactivity was measured by skin conductance level and a positive feeling scale. All four participants reported that their compulsive behavior was eliminated after the intervention targeted the FSs.