Contingency Management

Contingency Management has been studied in combination with many other treatments and is highly compatible with both behavioral and medication treatments.

Evidence for the intervention

Evidence supporting contingency management (CM) comes from more than ten systematic reviews and meta-analyses, drawn from over 100 randomized controlled trials. This evidence shows that CM helps patients with a range of different substance use disorders and is highly effective for patients with stimulant and opioid use disorders. For stimulant use disorders, CM is the most effective treatment available and is recommended as both a standalone treatment and an adjunctive treatment in combination with medication or other behavioral treatments. For opioid use disorders, CM is a highly effective adjunct to medication for opioid use disorder and is not recommended as a standalone treatment option. Based on its effectiveness as a standalone treatment for stimulant use disorder treatment and an adjunctive treatment for opioid use disorder, documented across multiple systematic reviews, CM earned our highest evidence rating.

Evidence-based Scale

For patients with opioid use disorder, Contingency Management (CM) has been shown to be highly effective in combination with medications such as buprenorphine and methadone. CM is also effective when combined with other behavioral treatments such as cognitive behavioral therapy.