One of the traditional problems that psychology, in general, has faced, and the psychology of addictive behaviours in particular, is the scant collaboration between research (fundamentally focused on the university environment) and clinical practice, which hinders progress. Necessary knowledge in the area. The relationship between the university field and the clinical field should be strengthened, facilitating the research resources of the latter through collaboration between university researchers and clinicians who carry out their daily work with actual cases. Said collaboration is scarce (sometimes non-existent), significantly hindering knowledge of reality and preventing the necessary treatment adjustments. The University and the College of Psychologists should promote this collaboration. Clinicians, in turn, should be accredited as researchers (doctoral training and research adequacy).

Teamwork and updating. Let us not forget that the approach to these disorders is based on comprehensive care. The lack of communication between the different professionals and the ignorance of the different approaches is absurd and inoperative. The interaction between the different interventions (psychological and pharmacological) enhances the therapeutic results. Clinical sessions, coordination (intra-between services and units), ongoing training, updating through participation in related scientific societies, and attendance at professional meetings are essential for updating and adequate knowledge of the area’s advances.

In the day-to-day with the people affected, various difficulties frequently arise for which it is not easy to find solutions; it is then when it is necessary to count on the skill and experience of the professional and with common sense. In short, the real problems with which clinicians work are, in many cases, far from those same problems when they are studied and analyzed at a theoretical level. Some authors (Denis, 1996) suggest developing control systems that allow a better understanding and evaluation of patients, interventions, and organizational and financial problems as they appear. This approach differs from experimental research in that treatment efficacy is addressed in a natural context, not predetermined.

Evaluation Of Efficacy Or Therapeutic Effectiveness 

The factors that summarize the interest in the evaluation of efficacy or therapeutic effectiveness can be summarized as follows: the evolution of psychological science, the incessant development of psychopharmacological treatments in stiff competition with psychotherapeutic treatments, and the increasing access of citizens of advanced countries to health services, together with the necessary cost containment by payers (Perez et al., 2003). There are currently psychological treatments of proven effectiveness; however, not all psychological treatments have the same value. There are also ineffective psychological treatments. The progress of psychotherapy in addictive behaviours requires the delimitation of effective specific interventions for this type of disorder12. The evaluation of the efficacy and effectiveness of the interventions is, therefore, a necessity. The economism criteria present in today’s society are not alien to the field of work in which interventions in addictive behaviours are framed (fundamentally health system). Third-party payers have generated a dynamic of rationalizing therapeutic means that necessarily justifies the effectiveness and efficiency of the interventions (Santolaya, 2003). In addition, therapeutic efficiency has led to the rise of procedures that tend to make treatment cheaper and more accessible. Developing self-help manuals allows the patient and people close to him to apply the treatment more autonomously. Practical treatment guides and manuals pose some limitations (none of them insurmountable), which in the case of addictive behaviours are fundamentally related to the difficulties inherent to the disorders, which in many cases make it necessary to make treatments more flexible and personalized. , and with the training of professionals.