Integrated Treatment for Dual Disorders: A Guide to Effective Practice

The high prevalence of substance use disorders among persons with psychiatric illness—and the negative impact that each disorder has on the course and outcome of the other disorder—compels treaters to better understand and treat patients who have these so-called dual diagnoses. No group is better qualified to write about assessing and treating these patients than Kim T. Mueser and his colleagues at Dartmouth, pioneers in this field. In their preface to Integrated Treatment for Dual Disorders: A Guide to Effective Practice, the authors state that "this book provides guidance for professionals about facilitating the recovery process in persons with dual disorders." They accomplish this task admirably.

This book details the background to dual disorder treatment, reviewing topics such as epidemiology and the development of integrated treatment approaches. And it contains an extensive list of comprehensive references. What makes this book most valuable, however, is its focus on offering clinicians practical assessment and treatment guidelines. Treatments discussed are evidence based, and specific interventions are matched to the patient's stage of change. The book covers a wide scope of treatments, including counseling, motivational interviewing, working with families, and psychopharmacology. The authors use many illustrative case examples and vignettes. Even further, the appendixes are chock-full of useful tools: educational handouts that can be used with individual patients, groups, and families; assessment instruments; and treatment planning worksheets.

Clinicians of all backgrounds and disciplines will find Integrated Treatment for Dual Disorders easy to read and useful. I recommend using it the way I have—read it cover-to-cover, then keep it on your desk and refer to it frequently. With this book at hand, all clinicians will feel more comfortable and better equipped to treat an especially challenging group of patients. But I will give the final word to another pioneer of dual diagnosis treatment, Kenneth Minkoff, who in his foreword summarizes nicely: "This book's most significant accomplishment is that it helps to make individuals with co-occurring disorders into real people, with real feelings, and provides clinicians with useful skills with which to help these individuals grow and change in a caring context."