Therapist competence matters -- and more for some patients than others. While studies have shown that cognitive therapy is an effective treatment for depression, it has still not been clear the role therapists' training and expertise plays in making treatment successful. A new study finds that depressed patients show more symptom improvement when their therapists more competently follow the guidelines for delivering cognitive therapy. The study also suggests therapist competence may be a particularly important determinant of outcome for some patients. Researchers found that therapist competence was more strongly related to symptom improvement in patients who suffered from anxiety as well as depression, and for those who first experienced depression at an early age. "People with depression who don't have complicating issues like anxiety are fairly likely to show benefit even if they don't see the most highly rated therapists," said Daniel Strunk, co-author of the study and assistant professor of psychology at Ohio State University.
Report_2003-01-31_1.pdf (application/pdf Object) Publications, Special Collections: 5-Year Outcomes and Recovery Patterns. 2004.03.30: Measuring the Effectiveness of Drug Addiction Treatment. March 30, 2004 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for inviting the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) to participate in this important hearing. I am Dr. Nora D. Volkow. I have been serving as the Director of NIDA for close to nine months and I am very pleased to have this opportunity to testify about the remarkable advances we are making in the treatment arena. The reason we are here today is because we all want to harness our energies and resources to alleviate the tremendous burden that drug abuse places on our Nation.
Fortunately, our investments in biomedical research to improve the health of ALL Americans are paying off. Research shows us that drug abuse and addiction are complex. New imaging technologies reveal the neurochemical and functional changes that occur in the brains of drug-addicted individuals. There is hope. However, as with other chronic illnesses, long-term treatment adherence and lifestyle change can be difficult to maintain.
ExpectationsFin.pdf (application/pdf Object) Drug Treatment. In a drug policy debate dominated by rhetoric at the expense of facts, treatment for addicts in need is perhaps an inevitable casualty. Even in pragmatic terms, the realities of drug treatment are troubling. Studies tell us that the failure rate of most treatment programs is at least 80%, that most addicts who try to abstain fall off the wagon at least once, and often several times before successfully kicking their habits, and that some people never manage to stop. And yet it is also clear that the costs to society of providing inadequate treatment or no treatment at all are far greater in the long run. As a recent report from the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse has noted, imprisoning addicts and criminals with drug addictions, and leaving their addictions untreated, is both expensive and ineffective.
Treatment and Recovery. Can addiction be treated successfully? Yes, addiction is a treatable disorder. Research on the science of addiction and the treatment of substance use disorders has led to the development of research-based methods that help people to stop using drugs and resume productive lives, also known as being in recovery. Can addiction be cured? Like other chronic diseases such as heart disease or asthma, treatment for drug addiction usually isn't a cure. But addiction can be managed successfully. Treatment enables people to counteract addiction's disruptive effects on their brain and behavior and regain control of their lives.
Does relapse to drug use mean treatment has failed? No. Treatment of chronic diseases involves changing deeply rooted behaviors, and relapse doesn’t mean treatment has failed. While relapse is a normal part of recovery, for some drugs, it can be very dangerous—even deadly. What are the principles of effective treatment? What medications and devices help treat drug addiction?
Drug Treatment and Alcohol Treatment Doesn't Work. Statistics AA 97% Failure Rate? What's the Problem with AA Today When I came into AA 35 years ago, I was told that 75% never went back out 25% slipped and the majority of them came back..They often referred to themselves as 25 percenters...There was a language of AA in those day that you rarely here today. Q: Today statistics say that only 3% who enter the doors make it in AA and stay sober..? A: I read that just recently I was shocked.. First I got angry...I said that's ridiculous. Q Are You saying then you avoided newcomers? A That wasn't the only meeting I attended. Q So what you are saying is that you did not see a problem? A Not Exactly... Q So therefore you HAVE noticed a change... A Yes I have noticed a change..I guess after reading statistics... change to an alarming degree...If the statistics are correct, I must conclude that AA is failing them... Q Do you believe the statistics of 3% to 5% are correct.
A I don't go to too many open speakers meetings...Many are very large. A Yes AA..... A. A. Q. A. A. A. Q. A. A. Drug Rehabilitation or Revolving Door? ROSEBURG, Ore. — Their first love might be the rum or vodka or gin and juice that is going around the bonfire. Or maybe the smoke, the potent marijuana that grows in the misted hills here like moss on a wet stone.
But it hardly matters. Here as elsewhere in the country, some users start early, fall fast and in their reckless prime can swallow, snort, inject or smoke anything available, from crystal meth to prescription pills to heroin and ecstasy. And treatment, if they get it at all, can seem like a joke. “After the first couple of times I went through, they basically told me that there was nothing they could do,” said Angella, a 17-year-old from the central Oregon city of Bend, who by freshman year in high school was drinking hard liquor every day, smoking pot and sampling a variety of harder drugs. She tried residential programs twice, living away from home for three months each time. “Then I went right back,” Angella said in an interview. And the field has no standard guidelines. The Effectiveness of the Twelve-Step Treatment. The Effectiveness of the Twelve-Step Treatment by A. Orange At the beginning of every Alcoholics Anonymous meeting, someone reads out loud a plastic-laminated document that says, among other things, that this Twelve-Step program has rarely been known to fail, except for a few unfortunate people who are "constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves": RARELY HAVE we seen a person fail who has thoroughly followed our path.
Those who do not recover are those who cannot or will not give themselves completely to this simple program, usually men and women who are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves. There are such unfortunates. They are not at fault; they seem to have been born that way.A.A. Big Book, 3rd & 4th Editions, William G. Nothing could be further from the truth. A 5% success rate is nothing more than the rate of spontaneous remission in alcoholics and drug addicts. Every disease has a spontaneous remission rate. Alcoholism is in the middle. Dr.