TY  - JOUR
T1  - A randomized clinical trial of a new behavioral treatment for drug abuse in people with severe and persistent mental illness
AU  - Bellack AS, Bennett ME, Gearon JS, Brown CH, Yang Y
Y1  - 2006/04/01
N1  - 10.1001/archpsyc.63.4.426
JO  - Archives of General Psychiatry
SP  - 426
EP  - 432
VL  - 63
IS  - 4
N2  - Context 
    Drug abuse by people with severe mental disorder is a significant public health problem for which there is no empirically validated treatment.Objective 
    To evaluate the efficacy of a new behavioral treatment for drug abuse in this population: Behavioral Treatment for Substance Abuse in Severe and Persistent Mental Illness (BTSAS).Design 
    Participants were randomly assigned to 6 months of treatment in either BTSAS or a manualized control condition: Supportive Treatment for Addiction Recovery (STAR).Setting 
    Treatment was conducted in community-based outpatient clinics and a Veterans Affairs medical center in Baltimore, Md.Participants 
    Participants were 129 stabilized outpatients meeting DSM criteria for drug dependence (cocaine, heroin, or cannabis) and serious mental illness: 39.5% met DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder; 55.8%, for major affective disorders; and the remainder met criteria for severe and persistent mental illness and other Axis I disorders.Interventions 
    Both treatments were administered by trained health care professionals in small groups, twice a week for 6 months. The BTSAS program is a social learning intervention that includes motivational interviewing, a urinalysis contingency, and social skills training. The control condition, STAR, is a supportive group discussion treatment.Main Outcome Measure 
    The primary outcome measure was urinalysis results from twice-weekly treatment sessions.Results 
    The BTSAS program was significantly more effective than STAR in percentage of clean urine test results, survival in treatment, and attendance at sessions. The BTSAS program also had significant effects on important community-functioning variables, including hospitalization; money available for living expenses; and quality of life.Conclusions 
    The BTSAS program is an efficacious treatment. Further work needs to be done to increase the proportion of eligible patients who are able to become engaged in treatment.
SN  - 0003-990X
M3  - doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.63.4.426
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.63.4.426
ER  -