What the science shows, and what we should do about it (Part 1)

There is little doubt that we have learnt a lot about addiction, recovery and treatment over the past 20 years. We know much more about how to help people overcome substance use problems.

However, scientists often argue that little of what we have learnt about addiction, recovery and treatment is being applied widely in practice today. Too few people are benefiting from these new insights.

A number of leading addiction scientists met in New Mexico, USA, in 2004 at a "think-tank" conference to share research findings in their respective areas and discuss possible implications for treatment and prevention interventions.

This conference resulted in a seminal book, "Rethinking Substance Abuse: What the Science Show, and What We Should Do about It", edited by William R. Miller and Kathleen M. Carroll.

These scientists not only emphasised that major gaps exist between what research has actually shown to be effective and what is actually practiced in treatment settings.

They also pointed out that:

Treatment services are marginalised, stigmatised and isolated from the rest of the health care system.
Consumers have very little reliable information to use in finding and selecting services, and judging their effectiveness.
Drastic cuts in financial support for treatment and prevention efforts have left the existing US interventions system in dire straits.

Given these problems, the book editors pointed out that it is, "not difficult to imagine starting over from scratch to envision a more compassionate, effective and cost-efficient intervention system."

They draw together the wealth of scientific understanding from the range of topic areas considered to produce a set of ten cross-cutting principles, and then reflect on their implications with ten recommendations for interventions.

In the attached and a following article, I outline these important Principles and Recommendation. How relevant are they to reducing the suffering related to substance use problems in your country?

Part 2
Download the full article in PDF FormatWhat the science shows, and what we should do about it (Part 1)Originally from: http://wiredin.org.uk/practitioners/articles/entry/1690/what-the-science-shows-and-what-we-should-do-about-it-part-1

: http://alcoholdrugstreatment.info/what-the-science-shows-and-what-we-should-do-about-it-part-1