Evidence-based practice in psychotherapy for substance use disorders

Abstract

The evidence-based practice, which recommends that the professional should direct his/her conduct based on scientific data, was a movement that started in the 1990s in medicine and later became part of the other healthcare areas. In psychology, more precisely regarding psychotherapy, such practice recommends that clinical intervention integrate the expertise of the psychotherapist with the best available research evidence for the case in question, considering also the characteristics of the patient and the probability of him/her engaging in treatment. On this topic, this chapter presents the concepts of evidence-based practice in psychology and discusses evidence-based psychotherapy in the treatment of substance use disorder. Literature review studies with and without meta-analysis are presented and discussed on the evaluation of the efficacy and effectiveness of types of treatment interventions for drug-related problems and on the implementation of evidence-based programs for the prevention and treatment of drug addiction. Finally, a clinical case is reported that illustrates the application of an evidence-based psychotherapy intervention to treat alcohol use disorder.