NIABY correspondents have heard countless "statement of facts" and "claims of effectiveness" about Supportive Housing and treatments for addiction. Having endured reviewing the misleading and spurious "literature reviews" from City Halls hired "experts", we’ve decided to add a section called "New Science". Here we will bring you a short reviews on interesting current peer reviewed published scientific literature about addiction.
Tiet, Quyen Q. et al "Treatments for Patients With Dual Diagnosis: A Review" Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, Vol 31 No 4 April 2007.
Niaby Rating: 4 out of 5
Current? Yes - April 2007
Relevant? Yes - Dual Diagnosis (Mentally Ill Drug Addicts)
Evidence Based? Yes. Reviewed 59 studies. Because there are not many good clinical trials on dual diagnosis published, authors made no quality rating on the quality of the studies.
Conclusion: "Not only have few treatments been replicated but also few interventions have shown meaningful improvement in both substance and psychiatric outcomes regardless of the kind of comorbid diagnoses."
Take Home Message: Any "claims of effective treatments" for mentally ill drug addicts in community settings like supportive housing by Vancouver City Hall's politicians, bureaucrats or hired "experts" is their opinion and is not scientific medical evidence. (Details »)
McHugo GJ et al "Enhancing Validity in Co-occuring Disorders [Mentally Ill Drug Addicts] Treatment Research" Schizophrenia Bulletin Vol 32 No 4.
Niaby Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Current? Yes - 2007
Relevant? Yes - Dual Diagnosis (Mentally Ill Drug Addicts)
Evidence Based? No Editorial Commentary on the lack of effective treatment protocols in treating mentally ill drug addicts.
Conclusion: "Thus, after 20 years of research, there remains a lack of strong and clear evidence regarding effective engagement, treatment and rehabilitation interventions for people with co-occurring disorders [Mentally ill drug addicts]."
Take Home Message: Monitoring abstinence over a long period of time and more than one method of testing for drug use is required in order to prove a sustained abstinence. Reliance on self report, asking an addict if they have used drugs is notoriously inaccurate, as is relying on the health care professional to detect drug useage. (Learn more »)
City of Vancouver "abstinence-based" supportive housing for clients with dual diagnosis will not be required to have random drug testing to confirm abstinence. The City of Vancouver will be relying on notoriously inaccurate self reports and "detection" by staff at supportive housing. (Details »)
Published August 16, 2007.