Psychotherapies for adolescent substance abusers: 15-month follow-up of a pilot study

In order to test the hypothesis that adolescent substance abusers could be matched to effective treatment lts on the basis of their comorbid psychopat hology; 32 dually diagnosed adolescents were randomized into two short-term outpatient groups psychotherapies. cognitive-behavioural treatment (CBT) a nd international treatment (IT). Two follow-up assessments were conducted a t 3 and 15 months after planned treatment completion. As reported recently at the three-month follow-up, no patient-treatment matching effects were id entified. However, adolescents assigned to CBT demonstrated a significant r eduction in severity, of substance abuse compared to those assigned to IT. Ar 15-month follow-up, there were no differential improvements ns a functio n of therapy type However, subjects in general maintained significant treat ment gains on the substance abuse, family function, and psychiatric status domains of the Teen-Addiction Severity Index (T-ASI), and both CBT and IT w ere associated with similar long-term gains. Large scale, randomized, contr olled treatment studies are further recommended to examine the findings of this small-scale pilot study.