Therapist's Guide to Substance Abuse Intervention

Abstract

This text “strives to convey the immense complexity of substance abuse and substance dependency disorders” (p. xvii) as described in the introduction. The book proves to be an excellent resource for primary care providers regarding the heterogeneous world of substance abuse treatment. Given the fact that 20% or more of outpatient visits in primary care are related to substance abuse problems, a text such as this proves essential in the primary care clinician's library. It is not a text to be read cover-to-cover, as it is over 600 pages in length and full of tables, forms, and other guides used to assess and treat patients with substance abuse disorders. The text is separated into 5 parts. As a physician, I found Part 1 to be the weakest in the descriptions of neurobiology and pharmacology, which are oversimplified in some places and simply erroneous in others. The errors are minor, however, and the overall description of the disease of addiction is well thought out and referenced. Part 2 overviews clinical assessment and is a comprehensive look at the many forms, screens, and evaluations that may be used in assessing patients with substance abuse disorders. Many of these clinical assessments are in the public domain and can be used directly from this text. Part 3 deals with substance abuse treatment, and the author does a credible job of describing multiple treatment modalities in an unbiased fashion. Part 4 discusses specific therapy approaches and how they can be used together and addresses the difficult problem of dual-diagnosis. In Part 5, there is a plethora of resources for patients who are continuing their growth in recovery. Therapist's Guide to Substance Abuse Intervention is an excellent resource but cannot be used by the novice to substance abuse treatment without some guidance. The text is so comprehensive as to be confusing to someone uninitiated in addiction treatment. On the other hand, when used as a resource for specific questions by a clinician familiar with the field, it may be one of the most comprehensive sources of its kind.