Integrating Substance Abuse Treatment And Vocational Services Tip 38

Unemployment and substance abuse may be intertwined long before an individual seeks treatment. Although the average educational level of individuals with substance abuse disorders is comparable to that of the general U.S. population, people who use substances are far more likely to be unemployed or underemployed than people who do not use substances. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, employment rates for the non- substance-using population ranged from 72.3 percent in 1980 to 76.8 percent in 1991. However, employment rates of the population with substance abuse problems before admission or at admission to treatment have remained at relatively stable, low levels since 1970, ranging from 15 to 30 percent. Most of the research on the employment rates of persons with substance abuse disorders has focused on opiate-dependent persons (usually heroin), and employment rates for other substance users may vary. The data clearly indicate the need for interventions to improve employment rates...

This Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP)is a companion to TIP 51, Substance Abuse Treatment: Addressing the Specific Needs of Women. These two volumes look at how gender-specific treatment strategies can improve outcomes for men and women, respectively.The physical, psychological, social, and spiritual effects of substance use and abuse on men can be quite different from the effects on women, and those differences have implications for treatment in behavioral health settings. Men are also affected by social and cultural forces in different ways than women, and physical differences between the genders influence substance use and recovery as well.This TIP, Addressing the Specific Behavioral Health Needs of Men, addresses these distinctions. It provides practical information based on available evidence and clinical experience that can help counselors more effectively treatment with substance use disorders

This Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) update is intended to provide addiction counselors and other providers, supervisors, and administrators with the latest science in the screening, assessment, diagnosis, and management of co-occurring disorders (CODs). For purposes of this TIP, CODs refer to co-occurring substance use disorders (SUDs) and mental disorders. Clients with CODs have one or more disorders relating to the use of alcohol or other substances with misuse potential as well as one or more mental disorders. A diagnosis of CODs occurs when at least one disorder of each type can be established independent of the other and is not simply a cluster of symptoms resulting from the one disorder. Many may think of the typical person with CODs as having a serious mental illness (SMI) combined with a severe SUD, such as schizophrenia combined with alcohol use disorder (AUD).