Therapeutic approaches in addiction

Research on the nature of addiction has revealed that the phenomenon develops from the interaction of genetic, pharmacological, and environmental variables. Once established, the course of addiction is similar to that of chronic diseases. Long-term relapse prevention treatment based on a combination of psychosocial and medication approaches is necessary.

Some new medications that address drug craving have been found to reduce relapse rates and already are available to the clinician with others still in clinical trials. The net result of the research advances has been to provide the clinician with more treatment options and increase the likelihood of successful long-term treatment.