Richard A. Rawson, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus at the UCLA Department of Psychiatry and a Research Professor at the Vermont Center for Behavior and Health at the University of Vermont. He received a Ph.D. in experimental psychology from the University of Vermont in 1974. Dr. Rawson conducted numerous clinical trials on pharmacological and psychosocial/behavioral addiction treatments for the treatment of individuals with cocaine and methamphetamine disorders. He has represented the US at numerous international meetings on methamphetamine. He has led addiction research and training projects for the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the U.S. State Department, exporting science-based knowledge to many parts of the world. He currently is providing consultation on treatment of stimulant use disorder to 8 US states and several international projects. Dr. Rawson has published 3 books, 45 book chapters, and over 250 peer-reviewed articles and has conducted many workshops, paper presentations, and training sessions.
Abstract
Treatment of Individuals with Stimulant Use Disorder: 2022
Individuals who use stimulants are challenging to engage and retain in treatment and they present unique clinical issues in treatment. Stimulant intoxication, withdrawal and psychosis have accepted treatment strategies. There are a collection of harm reduction interventions/services that can be life-saving. There are no FDA-approved medications for treatment of stimulant use disorder, although several are promising. Behavioral treatment, especially the use of contingency management (and other approaches with supportive evidence), has by far the best evidence of effectiveness. The presentation will review these topic areas of importance to clinicians treating individuals with stimulant use disorder.