Cognitive Behavioral Therapy-Based Brief Intervention for Volatile Substance Misusers During Adolescence: A Follow-Up Study

Abstract

Of 62 males admitted for treatment in Turkey in 2008 with a diagnosis of volatile substance misuse (VSM) dependency, half were randomly allocated to receive a cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based brief intervention and an education program and half participated only in the education program. One year after treatment, 38.2% of the experimental group and 58.1% of the control group had continued VSM during the last three months. This statistically significant difference indicates that CBT-based brief intervention is associated with reducing VSM in adolescents. Factors associated with abstinence after treatment are identified and study limitations are noted.

Keywords :

• inhalants
• dependency
• treatment
• cognitive behavior therapy
• brief psychotherapy

THE AUTHORS

Kultegin Ogel, MD, is a Psychiatrist and Specialist in addiction treatment. He has worked in adult addiction treatment centers for more than 5 years and as a Director of a Volatile Addiction Treatment and Research Center in Istanbul. He has written eight books on addiction.

Sibel Coskun, Ph.D., is a Registered Nurse and has worked for 5 years as a Head Nurse in a Volatile Addiction Treatment and Research Center in Istanbul. She was trained in cognitive behavioral treatment and uses it in her practice. She is also experienced in the rehabilitation of psychiatric patients.

Notes

2 The reader is referred to Hills's criteria for causation which were developed in order to help assist researchers and clinicians determine if risk factors were causes of a particular disease or outcomes or merely associated. (Hill, 1965). The environment and disease: associations or causation? Proceedings of the Royal Society of Medicine 58: 295–300). Editor's note.