Top 10 CTN accomplishments in behavioral therapies in the past 10 years.

This presentation, which was also given at the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) 10th Anniversary Symposium in April 2010, highlights ten “take home lessons” from the CTN, describing one by one their impact on both research and treatment in the alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs field. The top ten accomplishments include the discovery of: multiple successes in establishing a partnership and building a research infrastructure; the safety of behavioral treatments (adverse event monitoring, e.g.); the power of incentives; the broad utility of the Stage Model; the fact that empirically validated treatments (EVTs) stand up in real world settings; the specific effects of behavioral treatments; the effectiveness of treatment-as-usual; effort, support and commitment as essential components of adopting and sustaining EVTs; the challenges of retention and broadening our scope; and the fact we still have a long way to go.

The presentation ends with a “tentative top ten to tackle in the next ten,” providing some examples of future directions for research in the CTN, including the development of a common outcome measure, ways to better keep clinicians engaged, how to sustain the effects of treatment and training, and more. [Note: Michael Levy, PhD, presented Dr. Carroll’s slides at the NIATx Summit and SAAS National Conference in her absence.]