II International Congress: Dual Disorders – Addictive Behaviors and Other Mental Disorders

Citation

(2011), "II International Congress: Dual Disorders – Addictive Behaviors and Other Mental Disorders", Advances in Dual Diagnosis, Vol. 4 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/add.2011.54104daa.003

II International Congress: Dual Disorders – Addictive Behaviors and Other Mental Disorders

Article Type: Conference news From: Advances in Dual Diagnosis, Volume 4, Issue 4

The 2nd International Congress on Dual Disorders, Addictive Behaviours and Other Mental Disorders was held on 5-8 October 2011 in Barcelona (Figure 2). The conference brought together professionals and researchers in the areas of mental health and substance use from around the world to present their findings on recent research and practice. The conference had 32 tracks from basic research to epidemiology to psychopharmacological and psychotherapeutic treatments in dual diagnosis. Parallel Symposia on Self-medication and Self-regulation in Dual Diagnosis ran throughout the conference, to consider the evidence on whether some patients use substances in an attempt to cope with psychopathological distress or symptoms.

Figure 2

Presentations confirmed the high level of psychiatric morbidity among substance users, including tobacco smokers; and the high level of intimate partner violence and childhood abuse experienced by both male and female substance users that need to be addressed. Denise Hien, from the City University of New York presented data from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) clinical trials networks “women and trauma” study. Women who received the “seeking safety” manualised cognitive behavioural therapy that addressed trauma and addiction, and who attended 12-step groups post-treatment, benefited from “seeking safety”. The authors concluded that the “findings provide(d) several types of evidence to support the directionality and context for trauma focused treatment”.

Nora Volkow, the Director of NIDA, gave an interesting plenary on “The brain and dual diagnosis”; explaining the neurobiological processes in addiction, and genetic, developmental, and environmental risk factors for addiction; and discussed possibilities for more effective prevention and treatment of substance-use disorders as a result of these recent understandings.

Progress members were also present at the conference. They hosted a special symposium on the UK perspective on dual diagnosis service developments. This session was chaired by Dr Elizabeth Hughes and included presentations by Elizabeth Hughes on dual diagnosis training randomised controlled trials; Dr Tara O’Neill presented in her work in developing training and support groups for carers of people with dual diagnosis, and Justine Trippier presented on innovative electronic resources for workforce development, drawing on her work on development of workforce capabilities in Oxleas as well as national resources such as the e-learning and acute care product (mentioned previously). Lois Dugmore and John Chilton also presented at other sessions during the conference.

The 3rd International Dual Disorders is planned for 22-25 May 2013 in Barcelona.