Cue-exposure therapy (CET)

Cue-exposure therapy is a psychological intervention aiming to reduce cravings and conditioned responses to addiction-related cues (such as drugs, alcohol, smoking, or certain foods), by systematically and repeatedly exposing individuals to those cues without allowing the associated rewarding behavior. This process is intended to decrease the learned associations between triggers and addictive behaviors, promoting extinction of cravings and supporting relapse prevention. Cue-exposure therapy is often used for substance use disorders and sometimes for behavioral addictions, and its effectiveness varies depending on the individual, substance, and adjunctive treatments used.

Other names

Cue exposure treatmentCETcue-extinction trainingexposure therapy (in addiction treatment context)