This TIP, Treatment of Adolescents With Substance Use Disorders, updates TIP 4, published in 1993, and presents information on substance use disorder treatment for adolescent clients. Adolescents differ from adults both physiologically and emotionally as they make the transition from child to adult and, thus, require treatment adapted to their needs. The onset of substance use is occurring at younger ages, resulting in more adolescents entering treatment for substance use disorders than has been observed in the past. In order to treat this population effectively, treatment providers must address the issues that play significant roles in an adolescent's life, such as cognitive, emotional, physical, social, and moral development, and family and peer environment. This TIP focuses on ways to specialize treatment for adolescents, as well as on common and effective program components and approaches being used today.

Contents

• What Is a TIP?
• Editorial Advisory Board
• Consensus Panel
• Foreword
• Executive Summary and Recommendations
• Chapter 1--Substance Use Among Adolescents
  • The Consequences
  • Treatment Needs
• Chapter 2—Tailoring Treatment to the Adolescent's Problem
  • Understanding the Problem
  • Factors Affecting Treatment Placement
  • The Continuum of Treatment
• Chapter 3—General Program Characteristics
  • Scope and Approach
  • Staffing
  • Perspectives on Counseling Youth
  • Program Components
  • Treatment Planning
  • Program Evaluation
• Chapter 4—Twelve-Step-Based Programs
  • The 12 Steps
  • From AA to the Minnesota Model
  • Incorporating the 12-Step-Based Approach
  • Research Studies
• Chapter 5—Therapeutic Communities
  • The Generic TC Model
  • Adolescents in TCs
  • TCs With Adolescents
  • Research Studies
• Chapter 6—Family Therapy
  • Family Therapy as a Recent Approach
  • What Should the Program Staff Know?
  • Research Studies
• Chapter 7—Youths With Distinctive Treatment Needs
  • Treatment in the Juvenile Justice System
  • Homeless and Precariously Housed Youths
  • Homosexual, Bisexual, and Transgendered Youths
  • Youths With Coexisting Disorders
• Chapter 8—Legal and Ethical Issues
  • Consent to Treatment
  • Privacy and Confidentiality
  • A Final Note
• Appendix A -- Bibliography
• Appendix B —Medical Management of Drug Intoxication and Withdrawal
• Appendix C --Field Reviewers

This publication is part of the Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Block Grant technical assistance program. This publication was written under contract number 270-95-0013 with The CDM Group, Inc. (CDM). Sandra Clunies, MS, ICADC, served as the CSAT government project officer. Rose M Urban, MSW, JD, CSAC, served as the CDM TIPs project director. Other CDM TIPs personnel included Y-Lang Nguyen, production/copy editor, Raquel Ingraham, MS, project manager, Virginia Vitzthum, former managing editor, Mary Smolenski, EdD, CRNP, former project director, and MaryLou Leonard, former project manager.

The opinions expressed herein are the views of the Consensus Panel members and do not reflect the official position of CSAT, SAMHSA, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). No official support or endorsement of CSAT, SAMHSA, or DHHS for these opinions or for particular instruments or software that may be described in this document is intended or should be inferred. The guidelines proffered in this document should not be considered as substitutes for individualized client care and treatment decisions.