The community reinforcement approach to the treatment of substance use disorders

Empirical support is presented Sor the Community Reinforcement Approach (CR A), a broad-spectrum cognitive-behavioral treatment for substance use disor ders. At the core of CRA is the belief that an individual's environment can play a powerful role in encouraging or discouraging drinking and drug use. Consequently, it attempts to rearrange contingencies so that sober behavio r is more rewarding than substance-abusing behavior. Originally tested in t he early 1970s with a small sample of alcohol-dependent inpatients, it has repeatedly proven to be successful over the years with larger, diverse popu lations. Empirical backing is also presented for a new variant of CRA that works through family members to engage treatment-resistant individuals into substance abuse treatment.