BA Trial for Co-Occurring Depression and Substance Use

The BA intervention will be the outpatient version of the Life Enhancement Treatment for Substance Use (LETS ACT; Daughters et al., 2008). This brief, manualised BA intervention has been specifically developed to meet the needs of patients with comorbid substance misuse and depression in drugs and alcohol treatment settings. LETS ACT targets the link between mood, substance use and behaviour, and focuses on identifying and increasing rewarding, substance-free activities that are based on the patient's own personal values.

The control intervention in this study is Treatment as Usual at the CDAT service. Treatment as Usual consists of planned key-working sessions every 2-4 weeks with an allocated caseworker plus monthly prescribing review appointments with a medical practitioner for patients who require drug treatment medication. Key-working sessions are primarily focused on addressing substance misuse issues using a range of intervention techniques such as motivational interviewing and brief solution-focused therapy.