{"id":3786,"date":"2009-08-07T09:50:30","date_gmt":"2009-08-07T08:50:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=3786"},"modified":"2009-08-23T15:27:08","modified_gmt":"2009-08-23T14:27:08","slug":"computer-versus-therapist-delivered-treatment-for-co-occurring-depression-and-alcoholcannabis-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2009\/08\/computer-versus-therapist-delivered-treatment-for-co-occurring-depression-and-alcoholcannabis-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Computer versus Therapist-delivered Treatment for Co-occurring Depression and Alcohol\/Cannabis Use"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt; font-family: Verdana;\">When depression and substance abuse occur together, as<br \/>\nis common, either condition can hamper effective treatment<br \/>\nof the other. Behavioral interventions that address<br \/>\nboth conditions have not been rigorously tested. Although<br \/>\ndelivering such interventions by computer holds promise<br \/>\nfor extending their reach, their effectiveness in treating<br \/>\nthese co-occurring disorders remains unknown. In a randomized<br \/>\ntrial, researchers measured the effectiveness of an<br \/>\nintervention combining principles of motivational interviewing<br \/>\n(MI) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) in the<br \/>\ntreatment of depression and co-morbid alcohol and\/or cannabis<br \/>\nuse. After a single baseline brief-intervention session,<br \/>\n97 persons with co-occurring depression and heavy alcohol<br \/>\nand\/or cannabis use were randomized to receive either no<br \/>\nfurther treatment (n=30) or nine 1-hour sessions of MI\/<br \/>\nCBT treatment delivered either by a therapist (n=35) or by<br \/>\ncomputer (n=32). Sixty-seven patients completed the<br \/>\nstudy. Depression and alcohol\/cannabis use were assessed<br \/>\nat 3, 6, and 12 months following treatment completion.<br \/>\n\u2022 Although the initial treatment session demonstrated<br \/>\nmodest efficacy for depression as well as alcohol and\/<br \/>\nor cannabis use, outcomes across all 3 conditions were<br \/>\nfurther improved among MI\/CBT recipients.<br \/>\n\u2022 The proportion of participants with improved depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory score,<br \/>\n&lt;17) and with diminished alcohol and\/or cannabis use<br \/>\n(&lt;50% as many hazardous use days per month) at 12<br \/>\nmonths did not differ significantly among recipients of<br \/>\ntherapist- or computer-delivered interventions.<br \/>\nComments: These data provide clear evidence that combining<br \/>\ninterventions to target depression as well as alcohol<br \/>\nand\/or cannabis use can improve outcomes in both conditions,<br \/>\nand that delivering such interventions by computer<br \/>\nmay be effective and reduce costs associated with therapist<br \/>\ntime. The results might have been less favorable had intent-to-<br \/>\ntreat analyses assumed that participants lost to follow-up<br \/>\nhad resumed drug use. In addition, the intensity of the<br \/>\nintervention (10 hour-long sessions) raises questions about<br \/>\nfeasibility in typical practice settings. As computer-delivered<br \/>\ninterventions gain acceptance, further studies to define<br \/>\ncost- effectiveness and completion rates outside of research<br \/>\nsettings are warranted.<\/p>\n<p><em>Source: . Addiction. 2009; 104(3):378\u2013388. . Computer-<br \/>\nbased psychological treatment for comorbid depression<br \/>\nand problematic alcohol and\/or cannabis use: a randomized<br \/>\ncontrolled trial of clinical efficacy.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When depression and substance abuse occur together, as is common, either condition can hamper effective treatment of the other. Behavioral interventions that address both conditions have not been rigorously tested. Although delivering such interventions by computer holds promise for extending their reach, their effectiveness in treating these co-occurring disorders remains unknown. In a randomized trial, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68,64],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3786","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3786","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}