Psychological Treatment for Individuals with Co-occurring Mental Health and Substance Misuse Needs: A Qualitative Study From the Psychologist’s Perspective

Background: Despite this, treatment rates for individuals with mental health and substance use needs remain low and access to treatment remains problematic. Research has furthered our understanding of the associations between mental health and substance use, and treatment approaches, but the attitudes and perspective of clinical psychologists, working with individuals who present with these co-occurring needs have been less researched.
Objective: This study aims to explore clinical psychologist’s attitudes and perspectives towards working with individuals who use substances and will consider the wider social impact of professional’s regard for this patient group in relation to psychological treatment accessibility and outcome.
Methods: Semi structured interviews were used with eight clinical psychologists. Interview data was analysed using thematic analysis using six stages outlined by Braun and Clarke (2006).
Findings: Three over-arching themes were identified: 1. Professional and the Personal Self, 2. Organisations, Systems and Services, 3. Willingness to Treat.
Conclusions: The findings suggest co-occurring mental health and substance use needs can present a challenge for clinical psychologists and can bring added complexity for non-specialist services. The findings illustrated disparate views between and within services as to roles and remits of clinical psychologists in substance use issues. Findings also suggested that a lack of focus on substance use issues within professional training programmes may influence how clinical psychologists have come to view their role within this area. The findings highlighted a need for an increased focus on the role of psychology in the treatment of co-occurring mental health and substance use in professional training programmes, which could have implications for increasing access to psychological treatment for this client group.