American Psychiatric Association practice guideline for substance use disorders

The American Psychiatric Association has published a practice guideline for treatment of patients with substance use disorders. This review focuses on scientific and clinical strengths and limitations of the guideline, and the relevance of the guideline to behavior therapy. The guideline incorporated a thorough review of the scientific literature, presented substance use disorders as complex and multifaceted problems, recommended pharmacological and psychosocial interventions where appropriate, and noted the limits of scientific knowledge. The guideline focuses on the strong empirical support for a number of major behavioral and cognitive-behavioral interventions. Expansion of the guideline to consider less severe cases, expanded information about specific population subgroups, more careful attention to assessment and diagnosis. and more objective criteria for classifying studies that are applied more systematically would strengthen future editions.