Behavioral approach to rehabilitation of patients with substance-use disorders

Abstract

At last, I learned how to clean a potato. Before I was 40, I never held anything heavier than a syringe in my hand. -A former drug abuser This chapter describes the practice of treatment and rehabilitation of persons suffering from substance-use disorders (i.e., abuse of drugs or alcohol). It uses the experience gathered in one of the departments of the Narcologic Clinic of St. Petersburg, Russia, and works as a therapeutic society (TS). Therapeutic societies are organizations, sometimes voluntary, aimed at helping drug and alcohol abusers to rid themselves of substance-use disorders.The treatment is based on the philosophical concept of the 12-step programs and the method of the cognitive behavioral therapy approach. Patients participate in three stages of treatment. During this treatment the patient is placed in an artificial environment similar to a normal society. © Springer Science + Business Media, LLC 2009.