Changes in Admission Patterns Over a Decade: Substance Use Treatment Data from 1998 to 2008

The objective of this study is to provide insights into substance users’ beliefs about the causes of substance use, in order to expand the current understanding of the significance of the client’s change-related talk during motivational interviewing (MI) sessions. In particular, it focuses on what kind of causes the substance-using clients attribute their substance use to in change talk during MI. The analyses are based on videotaped and transcribed data consisting of 98 MI sessions in the Finnish Probation Service. By applying Peirce’s semiotic theory of signs, this study investigates clients’ change talk utterances about causal attributions of substance use as an indexical sign. The results show that the clients attributed various causes to substance use, and that five main causes can be discerned: cultural factors, significant others, personal properties, working life, and lifestyle. The study displays that both sociocultural and psychological causes play an important role in substance users’ change talk. Thus, it is suggested that contextual factors should not be overlooked in MI and other substance use treatment.

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Improvement in psychological wellbeing among adolescents with a substance use disorder attending an outpatient treatment programme

Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/ipm.2021.6 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-8

Author(s):

N.M. Gamage ◽

C. Darker ◽

B.P. Smyth

Keyword(s):

Substance Use ◽

Psychological Symptoms ◽

Significant Proportion ◽

Cannabis Use ◽

Psychological Wellbeing ◽

Substance Use Treatment ◽

Disruptive Behaviour ◽

Treatment Programme ◽

The Impact

Objectives: Adolescents with substance use disorders (SUDs) exhibit high rates of comorbid psychological problems. This study aimed to examine the impact of an outpatient substance use treatment programme upon the psychological wellbeing of adolescents. Methods: A prospective study was carried out examining psychological symptoms in a group of adolescents attending the Youth Drug and Alcohol (YoDA) Addiction Service in Dublin. Participants were treated with evidenced based psychological models such as cognitive behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing and systemic family therapy. The Becks Youth Inventory was utilised to assess psychological symptoms at treatment entry and repeated three months later at follow up. Results: Among 36 adolescents who were included in this study, poly-substance misuse was the norm. Almost three-quarter had a cannabis use disorder (CUD). There were significant reductions in mean subscale scores of depression (56.0 to 50.8, p = 0.003), anger (55.2 to 49.5, p < 0.001) and disruptive behaviour (61.6 to 56.5, p = 0.002) at follow up. Although there wasn’t a statistically significant reduction in mean scores for anxiety, we observed a significant proportion of participants (p = 0.008) improving and moving out of a moderate to severe symptom range when examined by category. This was also the case for self-concept (p = 0.04). Furthermore this study revealed a positive correlation between the reduction in days of cannabis use and reduction in depressive scores (Pearson correlation 0.49, p = 0.01) among those with a CUD. Conclusion: The findings indicate that substance use treatment for adolescents is associated with important psychological and behavioural improvements.

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