Psychological Mediators of Psychotherapeutic Treatment Success in Substance Use Disorders: A Structured Narrative Synthesis of Empirical Evidence

Title Psychological Mediators of Psychotherapeutic Treatment Success in Substance Use Disorders: A Structured Narrative Synthesis Authors Christopher Lomas Abstract / Description This review synthesises 34 peer-reviewed empirical studies examining modifiable psychological mediators of psychotherapeutic or combined interventions for substance use disorders (SUD). Mediators were classified into seven functional domains. The aim was to identify modifiable psychological processes associated with treatment success and integrate these into a mechanistic framework for future process-based intervention design. Research Questions What psychological variables function as mediators of psychotherapeutic or combined treatments for SUD? How can these variables be classified and synthesised to inform process-sensitive intervention design? Methods Summary Structured narrative synthesis PRISMA 2020 compliant Sources: PsycINFO, PubMed, Web of Science, CENTRAL Dates: 2000–2024 Study types: RCTs, quasi-experimental, and longitudinal Risk of bias: RoB 2 and ROBINS-I