METODE MONOGRAPH Metode Science Studies Journal (2021). University of Valencia eISSN: 2174-9221. Submitted: 08/10/2020. Approved: 08/04/2021. TOWARDS RECOVERY Therapeutic approaches to improve the treatment of alcohol use disorder The best evidence-based treatments for alcohol dependence are currently those developed within multidisciplinary programmes based on a cognitive-behavioural approach, which include psychological, sociological, and medical dimensions. However, recovery is not always achieved. The percentage of individuals who abandon these programs and relapse is high throughout the whole process and an adequate state of wellbeing is not always found. This paper outlines some of the complements or techniques that could be incorporated into the most common treatments to enhance behavioural change while also considering long-term outcomes. Thus, the text highlights the importance of considering recovery as the culmination of the process of change towards improved health, wellbeing, and a self-directed life purpose, rather than just abstinence. Keywords: alcohol use disorder, cognitive-behavioural therapy, motivation, inhibitory control, recovery. ■ INTRODUCTION Addiction management requires a biopsychosocial approach, aimed at the well-being of the patient which also takes into account their individual, social, and biological characteristics. These models consider the recovery of alcohol-dependent individuals not only as the attainment of abstinence, but also as the culmination of a process of voluntarily sustained lifestyle change, leading to improvements in health, well- being, and self-direction of life purpose. The complexity of this approach is derived from variability in the factors affecting the development of an addiction, which differ between individuals, such as their life experiences, neurobiological characteristics, and coping capacity. The fact that each person’s ability to resolve these aspects is different results in the high heterogeneity we fnd in daily clinical practice in terms of alcohol use disorder symptomatology, treatments, and levels of effcacy. Thus, there are multiple therapeutic approaches whose goals are set in relation to individual demand and variability but which often include interventions from pharmacological, cognitive- behavioural, or psychosocial approaches. The goals of these treatments often include providing dependent individuals with suffcient cognitive and behavioural skills to modify their problematic behaviours and reduce their risk of relapse, so that these changes become sustainable over time, either by maintaining abstinence or by reducing harm. However, the results «Addiction management requires a biopsychosocial approach, aimed at the well- being of the patient» R. Jurado-Barba, A. Sion, L. Esteban-Rodríguez, A. Martínez-Maldonado and G. Rubio-Valladolid HOW TO CITE: Delicado, A., Rowland, J., Vengut Climent, E., Mendoza-Poudereux, I., Gaston, E. (2021). Citizen consultations on science communication: A citizen science approach. Metode Science Studies Journal, 12. https://doi.org/ 10.7203/metode.12.17510 HOW TO CITE: Jurado-Barba, R., Sion, A., Esteban-Rodríguez, L., Martínez-Maldonado, A., & Rubio-Valladolid, G. (2021). Towards recovery: Therapeutic approaches to improve the treatment of alcohol use disorder. Metode Science Studies Journal. https://doi.org/10.7203/metode.12. 18427