Treatment Improvement Protocol 42,
“Substance Abuse Treatment
for Persons with Co-Occurring Disorders”
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration (SAMHSA) has released the Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) 42, “Substance Abuse Treatment for Persons with Co-Occurring Disorders.” TIP 42 is a consensus document created by a panel of experts chaired by Dr. Stanley Sacks from National Development & Research Institutes, Inc., and co-chaired by Dr. Richard Ries of the University of Washington.
TIP 42 provides addiction counselors (as well as mental health clinicians and other practitioners) with state-of-the-art information regarding research findings and clinical practices that can help them meet the challenge of providing effective treatment to those clients who show evidence of co-occurring substance use and mental disorders. As such, the TIP can be used as both a resource document and a clinical guide.
TIP 42 contains sections that describe historical developments, epidemiology, terminology and classification, screening and assessment, treatment principles, strategies, and models. Other sections discuss service delivery in traditional and special settings, and provide an overview of relevant mental disorders accompanied by a detailed review of psychiatric medications. Within each section, text boxes, case histories and “advice to counselors” columns are used to summarize findings pertaining to the tasks of clinical practice. TIP 42 was written in association with a panel of researchers and clinicians having a particular expertise in co-occurring disorders who were drawn from the fields of both mental health and substance abuse. The CDM Group provided significant administrative and technical support to the process.
Among the major issues that TIP 42 addresses are the substantial numbers of clients showing evidence of co-occurring disorders in both substance abuse and mental health treatment settings who are in need of appropriate services. TIP 42 takes the reader through strategies of screening and assessment designed to clarify the client’s status and needs, and describes treatment strategies that have been found effective in responding to the demands of the client evidencing co-occurring disorders, as well as those treatment strategies that show significant potential while requiring additional study. TIP 42 makes clear that, while co-occurring disorders represents a significant challenge to clinical practice, treatment providers have an increasing array of strategies available to meet that challenge. TIP 42 also highlights the rapid proliferation of knowledge specific to the field of co-occurring disorders and, with the development of such knowledge, the continuing need for efforts to achieve the incorporation of research-based advances into clinical practice.
The publication can be ordered through SAMHSA’s National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI) by calling 1-800-729-6686 or through the website http://ncadi.samhsa.gov.
March, 2005