The strongTreatmentstrong of Co-Occurring PTSD and Substance Use Disorders.pdfVIP

International Journal of Behavioral Consultation and Therapy Volume 2, No. 4, 2006 The Treatment of Co-Occurring PTSD and Substance Use Disorders Using Trauma-Focused Exposure Therapy Joseph S. Baschnagel, Scott F. Coffey, and Carla J. Rash Abstract Co-morbidity between posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUD) is high and there is a need for empirically validated treatments designed to address PTSD among SUD patients. One effective PTSD treatment that may be useful in treating PTSD-SUD is exposure therapy. This paper reviews the relationship between comorbid PTSD and SUD, the basics of exposure therapy for PTSD, and reviews preliminary work assessing the utility, safety, and tolerability of exposure therapy for PTSD-SUD. Although more research is needed, preliminary studies suggest that exposure therapy for PTSD-SUD is safe and tolerable and shows promise as an efficacious treatment. Key Words: PTSD, Posttraumatic Stress disorder, Substance Use Disorder, Exposure Therapy, Comorbidity, Alcoholism, Drug Abuse. Introduction Substance abuse among individuals with co-occurring mental disorders has been a topic of concern with regards to prevalence, diagnostic considerations, treatment, and relapse. The presence of substance use disorders (SUDs) generally complicates treatment of both the SUD and the comorbid condition, and has been linked to poorer prognosis overall (Grant et al., 2004; OBrien et al., 2004; Ouimette, Finney, Moos, 1999). The present paper will focus on one of the most common comorbidities, the co-occurrence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and SUDs. This paper will briefly describe the prevalence of PTSD-SUD comorbidity, potential mechanisms that may help explain the high c