Effectiveness Bank web site Hot topics
Supported by  Alcohol Research UK web site   Society for the Study of Addiction web site
Effectiveness Bank hot topics April to June 2018
A basic standard for effective substance use treatment is that, to the client, it looks like ‘treatment’. Two hot topics explore treatments currently at the fringes of awareness or acceptance, scrutinising what (if anything) works about digital interventions and acupuncture, and a third hot topic looks at how 12-step mutual aid may offer a way to reconcile diminished resources with the desire to get more patients out of treatment without triggering a relapse.

Choose hot topics to view by scrolling down and clicking the blue titles.
Not an Effectiveness Bank subscriber? Join mailing list for research updates.
See hot topics archive for all hot topics to date.
Share your discovery of the Effectiveness Bank by sending an email to your colleagues.

The promise of computerised interventions
Computers, mobile phones and tablets have permeated everyday life and will probably take their place among culturally-accepted routes to overcoming unhealthy drinking and drug use – but do they retain the effectiveness of in-person interventions?

Acupuncture: potential value of a ‘theatrical placebo’
Studies showing acupuncture can treat problem substance use and relieve symptoms of withdrawal are few and far between and tend to be methodologically weak. Yet it’s been a popular alternative when mainstream medication and psychosocial therapies haven’t shown consistent success. Does offering something concrete like acupuncture benefit the client, even if effects may be ‘placebo’ at best?

Is the worldwide popularity of the ‘12 steps’ matched by evidence of effectiveness?
The deficit in UK recovery resources combined with heightened profile of abstinence-based recovery form the backdrop to this hot topic on 12-step mutual aid fellowships such as Alcoholics Anonymous. To the extent that there is evidence of their effectiveness, can this be attributed to the more distinct components of the 12 steps, or established mechanisms of behaviour change?


The Drug and Alcohol Findings Effectiveness Bank offers a free mailing list service updating subscribers to UK-relevant evaluations of drug/alcohol interventions. Findings is supported by Alcohol Research UK and the Society for the Study of Addiction and advised by the National Addiction Centre.