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Pharmacotherapy in the treatment of drug dependence: options to strengthen effectiveness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Sarah Welch  and
John Strang
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Treatment of people with drug problems requires a consideration of those inviduals in their personal and social context, while being mindful of the complex interaction of genetic and developmental influences. Approaches to treatment should reflect this often complex aetiology and phenomenology, and the totality of treatment will typically include social, psychological, educational and pharmacological therapies. Treatment should result in a health benefit; consequently the goals of treatment should be tailored to the health care needs of the individual. Thus, with many patients, treatment will include abstinence as an explicit objective, whereas with other patients, intermediate goals, such as reduction of harmful injecting, may be more realistic and achievable.

Type
Research Article
Information
Advances in Psychiatric Treatment , Volume 5 , Issue 6 , November 1999 , pp. 427 - 434
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 1999 

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