ABSTRACT
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorders (SUD) frequently co-occur and are associated with significant impairment in mental, physical, social, and occupational functioning (see Chapter 3 by Rodriquez and colleagues for more details on negative outcomes). COPE was developed in order to address the complex needs of clients presenting with comorbid PTSD and SUD (Back et al., 2014). COPE stands for “Concurrent Treatment of PTSD and SUD using Prolonged Exposure” and represents the combined efforts of clinical researchers across the United States (Back, Foa, Killeen, Cotton, Carrol, and Brady) and Australia (Mills and Teesson). COPE provides an integrated, evidence-based treatment to reduce PTSD and SUD severity within the same treatment episode, thereby alleviating the need for clients to first go to one provider for SUD treatment and then go to another provider for PTSD treatment (i.e., sequential model). In this chapter, we review the primary components of COPE, provide a brief overview of prolonged exposure (PE) therapy, and present outcomes to date.
