Does cognitive therapy only work with intelligent people? Or can it help stupid people quit drugs too?

Published May 17, 2010

People often ask, what’s the best way to treat drug addiction, eating disorders, depression and anxiety etc – is it medication, or is it talking therapy – or both?

You obviously need *some* level of language skill to be able to use cognitive therapy at all – and the more intelligent you are, the stronger your language skills will be.

But on the other hand, if you develop an illness that makes you paranoid, then the more intelligent you are, the more likely you are to come up with really wacky complicated conspiracy theories, which other people will find it hard to talk you out of.

I think crystal meth addiction is particularly worrying. Heroin addiction can be treated with methadone, but there’s nothing like that for meth. And in some third world countries, literacy levels are very low. What would the western world do if our poorer neighbours got caught in a meth epidemic? If cognitive therapy doesn’t work with people who have learning difficulties, it could be VERY scary!

Does cognitive therapy only work with intelligent people? Or can it help *stupid* people quit drugs too?

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Does cognitive therapy only work with intelligent people? Or can it help stupid people quit drugs too?