Reaching out to patients with antisocial personality disorder in substance use disorder treatment: interactions between counsellors and clients in a psycho-educational intervention

This article presents the Impulsive Lifestyle Counselling program, a time-limited psychoeducational approach to increasing patient awareness of antisocial personality disorder and its consequences.

This article describes the ILC program, a program developed as an add-on to treatment for substance use disorders, gives examples of issues and patient-counsellor interactions in the ILC sessions.

During the ILC sessions the patients engaged with the counsellors in diverse ways, reflecting the varying levels of psychopathology and overall functioning and barriers and incentive for lifestyle changes.

Patients with substance use disorder and comorbid antisocial personality disorder can receive better care with brief counselling that focuses on antisocial behavior and thinking. More diverse evidence-based treatments are needed for this disorder.