Treatments for Substance Use Disorder
The importance of these earlier findings can inform the type of interventions that are used to treat the disease of substance use disorder. The knowledge that specific brain systems have been hijacked can help inform others about these issues. For instance if we are to tell someone that they suffer from a disease called alcoholism, it does not ease or assist in their understanding the battle they now face. This is similar to telling someone that the reason their loved one is in a coma is because they have diabetes. It explains nothing. If however we understand the process of the disease we can then be informative and help someone know more about their problem.
By informing a substance abusers family that the person with the disorder has a problem with the production of a chemical in their brain that keeps them using the drugs they use despite the consequences is far more illuminating. The fact that we can now address aspects of the disorder with specific treatments can then make sense and allow for informed decisions in mental health care. This may reduce stigma and improve outcomes. It may assist in the use and access of evidenced based treatments within the scope of acceptable treatments. It may pave the way for insurance companies and care providers to come together in the best interest of those persons who suffer mental illness (APA, 2015).
The treatment for substance use disorder has not really come far in comparison to the amount of knowledge that has been obtained in regard to this problem from the physiological perspective. The fact is that most of the treatment today involves some form of moral therapy that includes a twelve step component (Dodes & Dodes, 2014). Even the insurance companies ask for proof that a patient is attending some type of fellowship group and if they have a sponsor which is a component of the twelve step process. This is a type of treatment that started in the 1930’s long before the neural correlates that involve addiction were understood. But there is hope in that even the most hardened 12 step based treatment programs are adopting evidenced based treatments.
Today’s standard treatment should entail some type of evidenced based practice that is informed by scientific study of the components of addiction based on the biological, psychological, social, and physiological components of substance use disorder. There are many therapies that work with this disorder that can be found on the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) website (SAMHSA, 2015). These therapies can include individual and group counseling, inpatient treatment, intensive outpatient and partial hospitalization program and even twelve step recovery fellowships. The most comprehensive list of scientifically studied therapeutic techniques can be found at the National Registry of Evidenced Based Program and Practices provided by SAMHSA (SAMHSA, 2015).
For most treatments there is some type of group or individual psychotherapy which is sometimes combined with medically assisted treatment (MAT). Medications used would depend upon the substance that was the user’s drug of choice and other mental health factors that can only be determined by a qualified physician or psychiatrist. MAT is considered most effective when combined with psychotherapy. Some of the categories of medication include anti-depressants, anxiolytics, mood stabilizers, and antipsychotic medications (NIMH, 2015; SAMHSA, 2015).