The following series of articles provides the reader with brief descriptions of some of the diverse ways that people with substance-related problems can be helped. It is organized into two subsections. Treatment consists of summaries of the common ways that problems relating to specific substances are currently treated. Different approaches are described for alcohol, cocaine, heroin, polydrug abuse, and tobacco. Treatment Types presents descriptions of distinct interventions that are applicable to dependence on a variety of drugs.

In practice, many treatment programs are hybrids, incorporating features from several distinct treatment modalities and adapting them to specific needs having to do with age, gender, ethnic, racial, and socioeconomic factors, provider preference, and the economic realities that govern delivery of treatment.

Neither of the sections is exhaustive. A variety of substance dependence interventions employed in other countries and by certain ethnic groups in the United States (such as sweat lodges...