What Is Evidence-Based Addiction Treatment?

When looking for treatment for addiction, there is a lot of information out there and countless opinions. Friends, family, doctors, researchers, and people in recovery all have their own beliefs about what you need to do to get well. Unlike in other areas of healthcare, addiction treatment is often deemed “effective” based on anecdotal reports. In fact, most people who seek or are forced into treatment do not receive health care that is aligned with evidence-based practice.

A frequently-cited definition comes from a 1996 article in the BMJ Medical Journal: evidence-based “means integrating individual clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from systematic research.” Other definitions also include the patient’s individual circumstances, preferences, expectations, and values.

These variables are not necessarily constant, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution; any list of evidence-based treatments is going to include a wide variety of approaches.

What is Addiction?

In the United States, addiction is still treated more as a crime than as a chronic illness or disorder. Until that perspective changes, treatments will not meet their full potential and will not be as effective as they could be. Addiction, or substance use disorder (SUD), is a chronic medical condition that has remissions, relapses, and genetic components.

Are Relapses Normal?

A relapse is not a failure but a symptom. The brain of a person with SUD has gone through neurobiological changes that increase the risk of relapse because the damaged reward pathways stick around much longer than the substances stay in the body. Stressful events and other painful life experiences can trigger that maladaptive coping mechanism and cause a relapse.

For other chronic illnesses we would consider a relapse to be an unfortunate symptomof the disease, and we might call it a recurrence instead of a relapse. When successfully managed, the condition is considered to be in remission. Remission is a term that is relatively new in addition treatment; substance use disorder was not always believed to be a disease but rather a moral failing and a problem of willpower. We now understand that addiction is a chronic medical condition and that remission is the goal of treatment. Remission, as defined by the American Society of Addiction Medicine, is “a state of wellness where there is an abatement of signs and symptoms that characterize active addiction.”

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