Contingency Management in Substance Abuse Treatment

Timely and authoritative, this volume brings together leading clinical researchers to describe contemporary applications of contingency management principles across a wide range of substance use disorders and patient populations. Contingency management uses a system of incentives and disincentives to motivate patients to meet their treatment goals, and has been implemented successfully in community treatment clinics, drug courts, and other settings. Featuring illustrative case material, the book presents a cogent empirical rationale and practical strategies for targeting major drugs of abuse and working with specific populations, including adolescents, pregnant women, and dually diagnosed and homeless individuals. Also addressed are the nuts and bolts of developing and funding contingency management programs.

Stephen T. Higgins, PhD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Vermont. The recipient of numerous national awards for research excellence, Dr. Higgins is currently President of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence and principal and coinvestigator on numerous grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). He has published extensively on furthering scientific understanding of the behavioral and pharmacological processes involved in substance use disorders.

Kenneth Silverman, PhD, served as a staff fellow in the Clinical Trials Section of NIDA’s Intramural Research Program in Baltimore from 1991 to 1993. He is currently Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Silverman’s research focuses on developing operant treatments to address the interrelated problems of poverty and drug addiction. His primary research has focused on the development and evaluation of abstinence reinforcement interventions for heroin and cocaine addiction in poor, inner-city adults, and the integration of those abstinence reinforcement contingencies into model employment settings.

Sarah H. Heil, PhD, is Research Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Vermont. Her research interests include the behavioral and pharmacological processes involved in substance use disorders, with a special focus on pregnant and recently postpartum women. She is a regular contributor to the scientific literature on drug abuse and has received several honors and awards for research excellence.