Ultimately, individuals who are struggling with behavior change often find that making the initial change is not as difficult as maintaining behavior changes over time. Many therapies (both behavioral and pharmacological) have been developed to help individuals cease or reduce addictive behaviors and it is critical to refine strategies for helping individuals maintain treatment goals. As noted by McLellan [138] and others [124], it is imperative that policy makers support adoption of treatments that incorporate a continuing care approach, such that addictions treatment is considered from a chronic (rather than acute) care perspective. Broad implementation of a continuing care approach will require policy change at numerous levels, including the adoption of long-term patient-based and provider-based strategies and contingencies to optimize and sustain treatment outcomes [139,140].
