Brain exercises help kick habit.

• Position: Substance Abuse - Brief Article

Brain exercises originally developed for the rehabilitation of head-injury patients improve the cognitive functioning of individuals in substance-abuse treatment and their commitment to the program, according to research conducted at New York's University at Buffalo's Research Institute on Addictions (RIA). Those who participated in the cognitive rehabilitation exercises involving the use of computers stayed in rehab significantly longer than others and twice as many of them "graduated."

Kerry Grohman, lead investigator of the study, notes that "impaired cognitive functioning--in memory, problem-solving, abstraction, and information processing--is common in individuals who enter treatment for alcohol and drug dependence."...