Drug and Alcohol Treatment

A major study was designed to discover whether varying types of alcoholics respond in the same or in differing modes to different types of Drug and Alcohol Treatment. The specific therapy profiles selected for study were: twelve step adherents where patients were educated to join Alcoholics Anonymous; motivational enhancement therapeutic processes which are based on motivational psychology; and cognitive behavioral therapy, which is centered on social learning theory. Patients were assigned to Drug and Alcohol Treatment in a random, non-pre selected manner and in final analyses a range of differing hypotheses were tested concerning the patients' interactions between therapy modalities and severity of addictive substance involvement, cognitive impairment, psychiatric severity, conceptual level, gender, sociopathy, beliefs about alcoholism, family history of alcoholism, ability to comprehend personal problem alcoholic beverage situations, matrix of control, and self-image.

Research has shown that patients with fairly low levels of psychiatric severity could do better in the twelve step facilitation situation when it comes to Drug and Alcohol Treatment. The results demonstrated that these patients had more abstinence days during a year of follow-up than those other patients who had been treated with the various forms of cognitive behavioral therapy. The maximum range to which patients in either situation became adherents in a dynamic manner in Alcoholics Anonymous during the period of follow-up has not been yet reported in the medical literature.

One way to explain this for the failure of Drug and Alcohol Treatment research is that there were various ceiling effects primarily focused on the client selection process and the utilization of various rather powerful interventions. The general results of the study in question were quite successful and most of the patients in each situation showed considerable and sustained reductions of their particular addictive problems in utilizing recreational narcotic drugs or consuming excess quantities of alcohol over the follow-up period.

Generally speaking, the research findings in favor of connecting patients to therapy methodologies is quite weak at the present time. This does not translate into the statement that one Drug and Alcohol Treatment will suit every patient, since each individual requires a custom tailored, pliable approach in order to address their full range of requirements. Some patients need assistance with their psychological problems, while other patients have a necessity to receive assistance with various social problems including their employment status, and some patients have an ongoing requirement for at least temporary or better yet, longer-term shelter. Focusing resources directly onto these problems is critical if those involved are to demonstrate solid and clear improvements in their behaviors surrounding their past history of substance abuse.

Although the medical clinical research conducted to date does not yet provide powerful and indisputable evidence to guide the combination of individual patients to specific therapy interventions, that should not be read to state that all patients have a need or a way to respond to the same types of therapeutic services in the forms of Drug and Alcohol Treatment. A range of pliable and individualized strategies is required and a firm direction for the selection of appropriate programs are needed within the Drug and Alcohol Treatment milieu.

Group therapy by itself has not received overwhelming support from medical clinical studies, however a majority of therapists share the opinion that other therapies can be effective when offered the format of the greater group of patients. Groups have various factors which make them more effective, including one of economy of time and resources, since a number of patients undergoing Drug and Alcohol Treatment can be managed at a single time. They also have the advantage of assisting with the process of identification with other patients in the group who are currently having similar problems, therefore overcoming their own emotions and feelings of isolation. Group therapy empowers patients with a chance to learn from each other and support each other. They can imbue hope, facilitate the process of information sharing and allow for the evolution of role models. The group facilitates patients to discover innovative modes to express themselves, and/or to gain a new and fresh perspective on their own older conflicts in an environment of support and trust.

Professional addiction therapists and other medical professionals are split in their views on the advantages of providing therapies on a residential vs. outpatient structure, and the advantages of longer term vs. shorter term Drug and Alcohol Treatment. When comparing this basis to the analysis of alcoholism problems, there is scant evidence in the medical literature that providing therapies on a residential basis offers any innate advantage to therapy provided on an outpatient or even a day clinic basis .

There have been a relatively small number of controlled clinical studies which quantify the efficacy of therapeutic processes provided on a residential basis against the variety of less intensive options for addicts of narcotics other than alcohol. One study focused on inner city males who were dependent on cocaine-dependent males, who were assigned to either day clinic or inpatient Drug and Alcohol Treatment. The patients had at least a three year long history of cocaine use primarily through the route of smoking. There were no notable pre-treatment differentiations between the various groups in the clinical study, although those patients who were in the group assigned to the inpatient status were more likely to have been given narcotics therapy previously, and experienced more time of domestic, familial, or occupational conflict in the preceding month.

When it came time to compare the sampling with a randomly selected control sample from the same research study, it revealed relatively few differences. Inpatients were somewhat more likely to complete the course of therapeutic program of Drug and Alcohol Treatment, but during a follow-up half a year later there was little if any evidence of significant improvement between the two groups. The day clinic patients tended to have a trend of a slightly higher rate of abstinence from cocaine, while the inpatients resulted in a slightly higher level of abstention from alcoholic beverages.