Research Advances Aid Treatment Of Comorbid Substance Disorders

Psychiatrists frequently encounter alcohol and other substance use disorders in patients with serious mental illnesses. “All too often, heavy drinking interferes with a patient's response to treatment,” said Mark L. Willenbring, M.D., a psychiatrist and the director of treatment and recovery research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA).

The good news, according to Willenbring, is that research has shown promising results with strategies to treat and manage alcohol use disorders that can be integrated into a variety of clinical settings. For example, he cited brief interventions.

“Clinical trials have demonstrated that brief interventions, which are simple and easy to manage in general psychiatric practice, can promote positive change in heavy drinkers who have psychiatric disorders,” he said.

These and other research advances will be the focus of several sessions organized by Willenbring as part of the alcohol research track sponsored by NIAAA at APA's 2006 annual meeting, which is being held later this month in Toronto.

In the workshop “Managing Complex Comorbid Psychiatric and Alcohol Use Disorders in Psychiatric Practice,” Willenbring will emphasize practical techniques for screening, assessing, and managing comorbid substance use disorders. His co-presenter is Robert Drake, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry and of community and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. The workshop will offer an overview of existing research and a conceptual framework for treating substance use disorders in the context of psychiatric practice. It will be held Monday, May 22, at 9 a.m. in Room 206 E/F of the Toronto Convention Centre, North Level 200.

Willenbring also will chair the symposium “Screening, Diagnosis, and Management of Alcohol Use Disorders in Psychiatric Practice.” The presentations will explore the latest research on pharmacotherapy, motivational enhancement strategies, and meeting the addiction medicine needs of patients in a general psychiatric practice. Speakers will include Douglas Ziedonis, M.D., Hugh Myrick, M.D., and Michael M. Miller, M.D.

The symposium will take place on Tuesday, May 23, at 2 p.m. in Room 206 E/F of the Toronto Convention Centre, North Level 200.

Both the workshop and the symposium will highlight NIAAA's recently released Helping Patients Who Drink too Much: Clinician's Guide. This edition of the guide is written for a broader audience of both primary care and mental health clinicians and uses a simpler screening method than previous editions. Presentations will explain how the guide can serve as an efficient, one-stop resource for psychiatrists and mental health professionals. The guide is free from NIAAA and is available in Spanish.

The guide can be downloaded from NIAAA's Web site at<http://pubs.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/Practitioner/CliniciansGuide2005/guide.pdf>.▪