Overview of Special Sub-section on Money Management Articles: Cross-Disciplinary Perspectives on Money Management by Addicts

Abstract

Background: How addicts manage their funds can be understood from the studies of impulsive spending, contingency management, self-reported expenditures, behavioral economics, and anthropology. Objective: To show how these differing perspectives can provide theoretical explanations for substance abuse, they were applied to the question of when extra “windfall” funds are spent on substances of abuse. Treatment implications of these perspectives were examined. Methods: Relevant literature was reviewed. Results: Behavioral economics and related approaches provide the basis for money-management-based interventions targeting substance abuse, informed configuration of reinforcers to compete with substances, and therapeutically framing the choice between abstinence and substance use. Conclusions and Scientific Significance: A cross-discipline consideration of how addicts manage their funds has the potential to inform and improve substance abuse treatment.

• money management
• representative payee
• behavioral economics
• social security
• substance abuse

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This manuscript preparation was supported in part by R01DA12952, R34MH083394, R01DA025613, P50 DA09241, and the Veterans Integrated Service Network 1 Mental Illness Research, Education, and Clinical Center. Anne Black reviewed a draft of the manuscript and made suggestions that improved it.

Declaration of Interest

The author reports no conflicts of interest. The author alone is responsible for the content and writing of this article.