Comparing Substance Abuse Interventions

This assignment delves into a comparison of two common interventions for substance abuse: cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and drug therapy. It examines the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, highlighting their mechanisms of action and suitability for various substance use disorders. The text also discusses potential barriers to treatment implementation, considering both individual and systemic factors.

Running head: INTERVENTION COMPARISON
Intervention comparison
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author’s note

1INTERVENTION COMPARISON
Strength and weakness of each intervention:
Brief cognitive behavioral therapy is now widely used in the treatment of substance
abuse. The effectiveness of this intervention is found both as a monotherapy and as part of
combination treatment strategies. The CBT therapy is based on cognitive social learning theory
which focused on identifying thought, beliefs and attitudes that mediates one’s feelings and
behavior. Behavioral therapy applies principles from operant and classical conditioning theory to
change the reinforcement contingencies that govern substance abuse behavior (van Emmerik-van
Oortmerssen et al., 2015). The main strength of this intervention is that it can be implemented
successfully in individual or groups too to change the substance abuse related behavior of clients.
It is very brief and through extinction of conditioned response, it helps client to alter their
behavior and eliminate negative behavior leading to abuse. Another strength of this therapy is
that such therapy is readily accepted by client due to its flexibility to meet client needs and high
level of involvement with client (McHugh, Hearon, & Otto, 2010). However, the weakness of
this therapy is that this therapy may not work with all patients. For instance patients with anxiety
may get disturbed by this intervention (Taylor & Chang, 2008).
Another important treatment option for treating substance abuse includes treatment with
drugs or medications. For example, many drugs like methadone and naltrexone are used to treat
people addicted with opioids (Livingston et al., 2018). In case of people with alcohol addiction,
medications like disulfiram and natrexone is used. The main goal of drug therapy is to help client
achieves productive functions in family and workplace. Evidence has revealed that drugs like
opioid agonist medications are effective treatment options for opioid use disorder and it
eliminates negative health effects of the disorder (Schuckit, 2016). The main difference between
behavioral therapy and drug therapy for substance abuse disorder is that CBT therapy focused on

2INTERVENTION COMPARISON
changing the conditioned responses leading to substance abuse behavior in client whereas drug
therapy focuses on reducing the craving for drugs. The strength of medication treatment is that it
can block the effect of drugs. However, one weakness is that drug therapy can be more effective
or successful when combined with individual or group counseling sessions.
Discuss specific types of substance abuse that would benefit from your selected interventions:
The CBT therapy does not focus on eliminating the effect of specific types of drugs
however they work to modify the behavior of client and help them overcome dependence on the
drugs. It is a short term therapy that helps clients to recognize and prevent situation that make
them prone to engaging in addictive behaviors. In contrast, the drug or medication therapy for
substance abuse treatment emphasize on reducing the effect for specific substances or drugs. For
example, Methadone works to treat opioid use disorder (Livingston et al., 2018).
Identify potential barriers to treatment:
Despite the efficacy of CBT therapy in helping clients to maintain healthy behavior and
eliminate dependence on drugs, there are certain barriers to treatment. This is because if
depressed and anxiety patients are not identified, then individual may not interact in the required
manner because of stigma. Secondly, the skills of therapist also determine the way they can
handle different clients and achieve the goal of therapy (Taylor & Chang, 2008). In addition, the
barrier to treatment in case of drug therapy or pharmacotherapy includes system level barriers
such as lack of access to prescribing physicians and concern about patient’s compliance with
treatment or medication misuse (Oliva et al., 2011).

3INTERVENTION COMPARISON
Reference
Livingston, J. D., Adams, E., Jordan, M., MacMillan, Z., & Hering, R. (2018). Primary Care
Physicians' Views about Prescribing Methadone to Treat Opioid Use Disorder. Substance
use & misuse, 53(2), 344-353.
McHugh, R. K., Hearon, B. A., & Otto, M. W. (2010). Cognitive behavioral therapy for
substance use disorders. Psychiatric Clinics, 33(3), 511-525.
Oliva, E. M., Maisel, N. C., Gordon, A. J., & Harris, A. H. (2011). Barriers to use of
pharmacotherapy for addiction disorders and how to overcome them. Current psychiatry
reports, 13(5), 374.
Schuckit, M. A. (2016). Treatment of opioid-use disorders. New England Journal of
Medicine, 375(4), 357-368.
Taylor, C. B., & Chang, V. Y. (2008). Issues in the dissemination of cognitive–behavior
therapy. Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 62(sup47), 37-44.
van Emmerik-van Oortmerssen, K., Vedel, E., van den Brink, W., & Schoevers, R. A. (2015).
Integrated cognitive behavioral therapy for patients with Substance Use Disorder and
Comorbid ADHD: Two case presentations. Addictive behaviors, 45, 214-217.