KEY INGREDIENTS TO EFFECTIVE ADDICTIONS TREATMENT

Based on previous reviews and recent empirical findings a number of as sertions can be made as to what constitutes the active ingredients for the effective treatment of addictive disorders. These key ingredients include the following: easy accessibility of care, treatment flexibil ity, the involvement of collaterals, good therapists, motivated client s, matching treatment to salient client variables, client accountabili ty for their sobriety, focused treatment approaches, and the follow-up of drop-outs and program graduates. A program developed based on thes e key ingredients showed a 64% abstinence rate among clients in the Ac tion stage of recovery and a 56% abstinence rate for clients in the Co ntemplation stage. It is proposed that these key ingredients are gener ic to all effective substance abuse treatment programs and apply at bo th a programmatic level and an individual practitioner level.