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 th e relevance of the guideline to behavior therapy. The guideline incorporate d a thorough review of the scientific literature, presented substance use d isorders as complex and multifaceted problems, recommended pharmacological and psychosocial interventions where appropriate, and noted the limits of s cientific knowledge. The guideline focuses on the strong empirical support for a number of major behavioral and cognitive-behavioral interventions. Ex pansion of the guideline to consider less severe cases, expanded informatio n about specific population subgroups, more careful attention to assessment and diagnosis. and more objective criteria for classifying studies that ar e applied more systematically would strengthen future editions.