Substance use disorders and other addictions – Treatment and intervention principles

Historically, approaches to illicit substances have encompassed a spectrum ranging from open use to prohibition.³ The 20^th century is full of examples of national, and international, attempts to control the use and trade of substances of abuse, including opium and alcohol…

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) research-based guide, there are 13 principles that guide effective drug treatment, detailed on the slide.² Generated by consensus among experts, the principles have an empirical basis, from randomised controlled tri…

Addiction is typically a long-term illness, often involving relapse; therefore, treatment should not be seen as a single event, but rather a process of intervention and monitoring – highlighting the importance of treatment retention.¹ Whatever form it may take, treatment …

A brief outline of the theoretical underpinning of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is given on the slide.¹ Practitioners of CBT recognise that, behind the substance-use and dependence phenotypes, lie a complex set of biological, genetic, environmental, and interperson…

Many different therapies have been studied in the treatment of substance-use disorders, with varying degrees of supporting evidence. ⁷ A wide-ranging network meta-analysis compared various psychosocial interventions for individuals with cocaine and amphetamine addiction a…

This meta-analysis used data from 34 studies of non-pharmacological therapies for addictive disorders, including 2,340 patients – 5 studies of cannabis use, 9 for cocaine, 7 for opiate, and 13 for polysubstance use.¹ As shown on the slide, the results generally suggested …

There is some good evidence for the effectiveness of brief interventions for alcohol-use disorder in general care as well as in emergency settings.^2,5,6

The Finnish study outlined on the slide was part of a multi-component collaborative community action project of the Wor…

Motivational interviewing can be effective for reducing substance use across a range of addictions and substance-use disorders.^1,3,4 Furthermore, motivational interviewing has become widely used for tackling substance use in adolescents, although with relatively small tre…

Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in 1935, in the United States of America, when one of the founding members (Dr. Robert Smith) resolved to abstain from alcohol, and another of the founding members (William G. Wilson) wrote a book about the experiences of abstaining.⁵ The …