title: Modified therapeutic community for mentally ill chemical "abusers": background; influences; program description; preliminary findings.
abstract: This paper briefly surveys the literature that addresses the problem of co-occurring mental and "substance abuse disorders." It discusses several convergent influences on the development of modified therapeutic community (TC) approaches. The paper describes in some detail the modified TC program for mentally ill chemical "abusers" (MICAs). The paper also summarizes research data that establish positive retention rates and significant in-treatment change to support the effectiveness of the modified TC and to underscore the limited effect of treatment-as-usual approaches. Treatment approaches must be comprehensive, multidimensional, of relatively long duration, and must systematically address the interrelated problems of mental illness and substance use.
authors.affiliation: Center for Therapeutic Community Research, National Development and Research Institutes, Inc., New York, New York 10048, USA.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sacks
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sacks
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Leon
authors.forename: A I
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Bernhardt
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Staines
mesh_terms: D015897:Comorbidity; D006801:Humans; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D013808:Therapeutic Community; D016896:Treatment Outcome