There are numerous practice guidelines available for substance use disorders. They can help patients with conditions like opiate abuse, nicotine addiction, alcohol use disorder, and many other conditions. Recent guidelines are offering more details on cannabis too and medication assisted treatments. While no practice guidelines are a substitute for your clinical judgement and decision making, they can offer useful information and serve as a good reference. Most guidelines take up to a year to draft, and many are not updated for many years after release, so are not able to reflect the most current evidence. CSS-SMI has assembled a collection of current guidelines you can access. We do not endorse any but offer a variety each with a slightly different focus. They include ones from a commercial insurer, the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM), the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the American Psychiatric Association (APA), a review of those SAMHSA guidelines, practice guidelines from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, APA guidelines focusing on pharmacological treatment for alcohol use disorder, Federal guidelines for opioid treatment programs, and finally guidelines from Canada focusing on treatment for substance abuse in people with schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders.
Substance Use Disorder
Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Substance Use Disorders, 2nd Edition (APA, published 2010)
Guideline Watch (April 2007): Practice Guideline for the Treatment of Patients with Substance Use Disorders, 2nd Edition (APA, published 2007)
Introduction to Magellan’s Adopted Clinical Practice Guidelines For the Assessment and Treatment of Patients With Substance Use Disorders (Magellan Healthcare, published 2018)
VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines: Management of Substance Use Disorder (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense, published 2015)
Alcohol Use Disorder
Practice Guideline For The Pharmacological Treatment Of Patients With Alcohol Use Disorder (APA, published 2018)
Opioid Use Disorder
American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) National Practice Guideline for the Use of Medications in the Treatment of Addiction Involving Opioid Use (Journal of Addiction Medicine, published 2015)
Clinical Use of Extended-Release Injectable Naltrexone in the Treatment of Opioid Use Disorder: A Brief Guide (SAMHSA, published 2014)
Federal Guidelines for Opioid Treatment Programs (SAMHSA, published 2015)
International Guidelines
Canadian Schizophrenia Guidelines: Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders with Coexisting Substance Use Disorders (Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, published 2017)