8 - Treatment I: Models and approaches

Abstract

This chapter focuses on various treatment models and approaches used for substance abuses. One choice is professional versus nonprofessional services. Various nonprofessional alternatives include Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), Cocaine Anonymous (CA), and Double Trouble. These are 12-step programs of recovery for alcoholics, drug abusers, cocaine abusers, and the dually impaired, respectively. Professional treatment options include services of a mental health or substance abuse professional or a formal substance abuse treatment program. Especially in the early phase of treatment and with those individuals who are more severely addicted, individual therapy alone is considered inadequate treatment for substance use disorders. Individual therapies, however, are frequently effective as a part of multicomponent treatment programs. Treatment choices exist between inpatient- and outpatient-based programs. Inpatient treatment involves residence at the treatment facility. Outpatient treatment, in contrast, refers to a situation in which the patient lives at home and receives services at the treatment facility or professional office. Inpatient treatment is generally more extensive, more intensive, and costlier than outpatient treatment. One form of inpatient treatment is the traditional rehabilitation program, which typically lasts for 28 days within an acute care hospital setting or psychiatric facility. Other types of inpatient treatment programs include halfway and three-quarter houses as well as therapeutic communities.