Dealing With Trauma and Dual Disorders
Briefly described below are our major current, planned, and recently completed studies.
Treatment of substance abusing adolescents who have ADHD with atomoxetine
and cognitive training
The aim of this study is to determine if it is possible to keep adolescent marijuana abusers with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in residential treatment longer by using the drug atomoxetine and cognitive training. Funding for a one year pilot study of this research is from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and researchers at Columbia University will partner with Phoenix House in testing the integration of this medical-cognitive protocol with the therapeutic community treatment regimen at a New York program facility.
Adolescent Psychosocial Functioning and Trauma Experience
This study, conducted by a RAND-Phoenix House team headed by Lisa H. Jaycox and published in April 2004, studied exposure to trauma, symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and psychosocial functioning among adolescents at Phoenix Academies across the country. It found more than 70 percent of adolescents in residential treatment had experienced trauma and nearly 30 percent of these trauma-exposed young people reported or displayed symptoms of PTSD. Further study revealed that Phoenix Academy treatment appears to provide greater benefits for traumatized adolescents with PTSD symptoms than for than traumatized adolescents without PTSD symptoms, for trauma-exposed teens with PTSD tended to remain in treatment longer than their non PTSD peers.
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