Recent reports describe alarming trends of adolescent drug use and a lack of treatment for substance use disorder symptoms. Early efforts in adolescent treatment relied on adult models that may not have considered the unique needs of adolescents. Recently, there has been an increased emphasis in developing intervention models designed specifically for adolescents. This article provides descriptions of current approaches to adolescent substance abuse treatment and summaries of research assessing the effectiveness of these models.

This article explores the rates of co-occurring disorders in two large federally-funded programs that target youth. In the mental health treatment system, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's (SAMHSA) Center for Mental Health Services (CMHS) supports the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program. SAMHSA's Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) supports a number of grant programs providing substance abuse treatment for adolescents. The data from these programs underscores the need for the use of systematic, validated, biopsychosocial assessment instruments for all youth entering either the substance abuse or mental health treatment systems. The current evidence base for models of co-occurring treatment for youth is discussed and recommendations made for future activity related to adolescent co-occurring treatment.

This article describes the Strengthening Communities for Youth (SCY) initiative using data from 1,297 adolescents in eight U.S. cities (Oakland, CA; Tucson, AZ; Iowa City, IA; Bloomington, IL; St. Louis, MO; Cleveland, OH; Louisville, KY, New York, NY) to better understand the pattern of services they received, how these services varied by need, and how services were associated with initial treatment outcomes. Data include adolescent reports collected with the Global Assessment of Individual Needs (GAIN) at treatment intake and 90 days post-intake, information on early therapeutic alliance using a modified Working Alliance Inventory (WAI), and staff reports from service logs. Cluster analysis identified four patterns of treatment received: (1) substance abuse and mental health treatment, (2) primarily residential treatment, (3) interrupted treatment, and (4) primarily outpatient treatment. Outcomes examined included changes in substance use, substance abuse/dependence problems, recovery environment risk, as well as risk from social peers, illegal activity and emotional problems. Overall and for most groups, treatment was associated with reduced or unchanged problems in each of these areas. The exception was for cluster 1, for whom emotional problems actually increased. Implications for placement, treatment planning and future research are discussed.

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