Applying interventions designed to reduce and manage the symptoms of substance use disorders.
Treatment
EMCDDA Treatment Standards and Best Practice
Discover what works (and what doesn't work) in the areas of drug prevention, treatment and social reintegration.

Effectiveness Bank Matrix Bite: Psychosocial Therapies in the Treatment System
This is one of 25 cells in the Alcohol Treatment Matrix. The cell discusses key research relating to the roles of psychosocial therapies in local treatment systems. In particular, their role in creating a cost-effective mix of services...

Should Opioid Dependent Patients Receive Immediate Access to Medical Treatment?
New research supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has found through a comparison of treatment approaches for opioid dependence that, in an emergency setting, combining the medication buprenorphine with on-going care is...
Can Abstaining from Alcohol Help to Fight the Spread of HIV?
Studies have shown that alcohol may play a role in more that 13% of deaths resulting from infectious diseases, including HIV. Evidence suggests that alcohol consumption negatively affects the fight against HIV primarily by: Increasing the...

Could LSD Have a Role in New Therapeutic Treatments?
New research published in the journal Translational Psychiatry has found that LSD reduces activity in the region of the brain responsible for negative emotions such as fear. The researchers call this the drug’s ‘de-frightening effect’ and...
Does Smoking Cigarettes Increase the Chance of Relapse into Illegal Substance Use?
Among people recovering from substance use disorders, those who smoke are more likely to relapse three years later compared to those who do not, according to new findings published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Treatment for...
Organisational Influences on Psychosocial Therapies
Latest instalment of online course on alcohol treatment research. See if you agree with influential US researchers that “organizational climate underlies the entire process of innovation adoption”, appreciate the effect of high staff...

Drugs on the Brain: Substance Use and Neurotransmission
The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has published an extended overview detailing the impact of certain drugs on brain functioning, as well as the most common experimental methods used in related research. Neuroscientists primarily...

Tweet2Quit: The Social Media Intervention Helping People to Quit Smoking
The social media quit-smoking intervention – Tweet2Quit – sends automated daily communications to private self-help groups, encouraging high-quality peer-to-peer discussions online. It is very low cost and has a potential global reach. A...
The Comparative Effectiveness of Outpatient Treatment for Adolescent Substance Abuse: A Meta-Analysis
Multi-prong therapies centred on the family emerge as probably the most effective in this comprehensive and careful synthesis of the results of trials of non-residential programmes for substance using teenagers - but do the outcomes warrant...