Hot topic search results

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You have found 56 entries after clicking the GO button or a search link in a hot topic. Starting with the most recently added or updated entries, the list shows in orange the type of entry, year the original document was published (or if one of our own documents, the year last updated), and the type of file you will download when you click on the title. In blue is the document’s title followed by a brief description.

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HOT TOPIC 2016 HTM file
Is it futile to match alcohol treatments to the patient?

‘Hot topics’ offer background and analysis on important issues which sometimes generate heated debate. Even if overall one type of therapy for problem drinking is no better than another, surely this is just because certain therapies worked best with certain patients? Expectations that ‘matching’ would lead to improved outcomes were dashed in what was intended to be the definitive test, but it would be premature entirely to dismiss the idea.

REVIEW 2012 HTM file
Meta-analyses of seven of the National Institute on Drug Abuse’s principles of drug addiction treatment

In this massive enterprise, analysts dissected 232 treatment-comparison studies to test the validity of the US government’s principles of effective treatment for problems related to illegal drug use. Principles relating to individualising treatment were consistently supported by the North American evidence.

STUDY 2010 HTM file
Computer-assisted cognitive rehabilitation for the treatment of patients with substance use disorders: a randomized clinical trial

Researchers have long suspected that pre-existing or drug/alcohol-induced cognitive deficits prevent patients making the most of treatments which rely on complex verbal communications and understandings. For the first time this US study has shown that psychological exercises to remedy these deficits do improve outcomes by helping patients get to grips with treatment.

STUDY 1981 HTM file
Interpersonal functioning of alcoholism counselors and treatment outcome

Seminal US study which found that the therapy-related social skills of alcohol counsellors were strongly related to how many of their patients relapsed in the two years after leaving inpatient treatment.

STUDY 2010 HTM file
Long-term effect of community-based treatment: evidence from the adolescent outcomes project

The title speaks of long-term effects but in fact there were none from sending young US substance users to a youth therapeutic community specialising in substance use problems compared to non-specialist group homes; early gains had all eroded, an instance of the general difficulty of sustaining youth treatment outcomes.

STUDY 2010 HTM file
A randomized experimental study of gender-responsive substance abuse treatment for women in prison

From the USA a rare randomised controlled trial of prison-based substance use treatment for women finds substantial benefits from replacing a standard prison therapeutic community programme with one based on extensive trauma-informed and gender-responsive elements delivered in an entirely woman-only environment.

REVIEW 2012 HTM file
Effectiveness of therapeutic communities: a systematic review

Methodological shortcomings in the original studies prevented this review from reaching a firm conclusion on the lasting benefits of residential therapeutic communities, though it was clear that while residents stayed, substance use was significantly reduced.

STUDY 2010 HTM file
Long-term outcomes of aftercare participation following various forms of drug abuse treatment in Scotland

On several measures, the few drug dependent patients who accessed aftercare after treatment in Scotland in the early 2000s did better than the majority who chose to or were left to fend on their own – but could this be attributed to the aftercare, or would they have done well anyway?

STUDY 2010 HTM file
Long-term outcomes of office-based buprenorphine/naloxone maintenance therapy

Abstinence and recovery characterised by employment are priority UK policy objectives to which the extension of mutual aid is considered a major route. This US study illustrates that both the route and the objectives are not just compatible with, but may be promoted by opiate maintenance prescribing.

STUDY 2011 HTM file
Early treatment for women with alcohol addiction (EWA) reduces mortality: a randomized controlled trial with long-term register follow-up

Compared to usual treatment, over the next 27 years introduction of a comprehensively serviced female-only alcohol treatment unit in Sweden substantially extended the lives of its patients – a uniquely convincing demonstration that improving treatment can save lives.


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