# Incentivizing recovery: Why contingency management works to treat addiction, with Lara Coughlin, PhD, and Michael McDonell, PhD

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/speaking-of-psychology-169410/incentivizing-recovery-why-contingency-management-works-to-treat-addiction-with-lara-coughlin-phd-and-michael-mcdonell-phd
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/speaking-of-psychology-169410/incentivizing-recovery-why-contingency-management-works-to-treat-addiction-with-lara-coughlin-phd-and-michael-mcdonell-phd.md
Podcast: [Speaking of Psychology](https://stenobird.com/podcast/speaking-of-psychology-169410)
Published: 2026-03-04T08:30:00+00:00
Episode link: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/AMERICANPSYCHOLOGICALASSOCIATION4228396624.mp3?updated=1772228032
Audio file: https://traffic.megaphone.fm/AMERICANPSYCHOLOGICALASSOCIATION4228396624.mp3?updated=1772228032
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Duration seconds: 2729

## Resource

More than half of drug overdose deaths in the U.S. involve stimulants like methamphetamine and cocaine. There are no medications to treat stimulant addiction, but there is a behavioral treatment that works: contingency management, which involves offering tangible, immediate rewards for abstaining from drugs. Lara Coughlin, PhD, and Michael McDonell, PhD, discuss why contingency management works and the psychological principles it’s based on; how it can be used to treat other addictions including alcohol, tobacco and opioids; and recent momentum in moving it from research labs to the real world at large scale. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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