After reading these articles, you should be able to…

Patients with co-occurring disorders (COD, also known as “dual diagnosis”) are often regarded as among the most challenging patients to treat. You need to track two conditions that interact in unpredictable ways, with patients who may not be inclined to follow your recommendations. It’s no surprise that such patients typically have poorer outcomes than those with either disorder in isolation. And these patients are far from rare.

Despite an increased awareness of co-occurring disorders, there remains a fair amount of confusion about how to treat a mental health issue and a substance abuse issue at the same time without causing more harm. To further complicate the issue, when patients first walk in you often don’t know whether they are dealing with two conditions concurrently. Charles Atkins’ book, Co-Occurring Disorders: Integrated Assessment and Treatment of Substance Use and Mental Disorders, addresses these problems. We turned to him for some practical guidance.

Although studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of contingency management (CM) for illicit drug use, there’s less evidence for treatment of alcoholism—in part because a standard breathalyzer has a short detection window of 12 hours, meaning patients must only abstain from drinking since the previous night to pass the test.

After reading these articles, you should be able to…

The post-test for this issue is available for one year after the publication date to subscribers only. By successfully completing the test you will be awarded a certificate for 1 CME credit.

Everyone knows about Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), the original 12-step group. There are more than 60,000 weekly AA meetings in the U.S. alone. Despite this near-monopoly, however, many patients object to some of the most basic tenets of 12-step groups. This article presents alternatives, such as SMART Recovery.

Online programs to provide substance abuse treatment? Phone apps that can measure someone’s blood alcohol level? Welcome to the future­—in some cases, the very near future. Dr. Nunes, the deputy director for intervention studies at the Center for Technology and Behavioral Health, sheds light on technology-assisted care.

Contingency management (CM) programs are often effective, but they can be expensive, with typical incentives costing $900–$3,000 for a 12-week program. Expensive CM programs are referred to as “high magnitude.” In this new study, researchers tested an “ultra-low magnitude” program (basically, a very cheap program) to see if offering inexpensive reinforcers would be effective for an opioid-abusing clientele.

The post-test for this issue is available for one year after the publication date to subscribers. By successfully completing the test you will be awarded a certificate for 2 CME credits.