Psychosocial Intervention Research on Co-Occurring Disorders

ABSTRACT

Treatments for people with severe mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorder continue to be developed and tested at a rapid pace. Progress over the past 20 years has been remarkable. In the late 1980s, there were essentially no relevant intervention studies, and 10 years ago, there were few controlled trials of any interventions. As of 2006, more than 40 controlled trials of psychosocial interventions have been reported, and pharmacological trials are also appearing rapidly. In this update on psychosocial interventions, we provide a brief overview of four areas: (1) the concept of integrated treatment, (2) the evidence on specific types of interventions, (3) the methodological problems that limit current research, and (4) suggestions for future research.

KEYWORDS:

• Dual diagnosis
• psychosocial treatments
• research update