The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to sponsor continuing medical education for physicians.

The aim of the American Psychiatric Association Practice Guideline series is to improve patient care. Guidelines provide a comprehensive synthesis of all available information relevant to the clinical topic. Practice guidelines can be vehicles for educating psychiatrists, other medical and mental health professionals, and the general public about appropriate and inappropriate treatments. The series also will identify those areas in which critical information is lacking and in which research could be expected to improve clinical decisions. The Practice Guidelines are also designed to help those charged with overseeing the utilization and reimbursement of psychiatric services to develop more scientifically based and clinically sensitive criteria.

The guideline offers clear, concise, and actionable recommendation statements to help clinicians to incorporate recommendations into clinical practice, with the goal of improving quality of care. Each recommendation is given a rating that reflects the level of confidence that potential benefits of an intervention outweigh potential harms.

Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a major public health problem in the United States. The estimated 12-month and lifetime prevalence values for AUD are 13.9% and 29.1%, respectively, with approximately half of individuals with lifetime AUD having a severe disorder. AUD and its sequelae also account for significant excess mortality and cost the United States more than $200 billion annually. Despite its high prevalence and numerous negative consequences, AUD remains undertreated. In fact, fewer than 1 in 10 individuals in the United States with a 12-month diagnosis of AUD receive any treatment. Nevertheless, effective and evidence-based interventions are available, and treatment is associated with reductions in the risk of relapse and AUD-associated mortality. The American Psychiatric Association Practice Guideline for the Pharmacological Treatment of Patients With Alcohol Use Disorder seeks to reduce these substantial psychosocial and public health consequences of AUD for millions of affected individuals. The guideline focuses specifically on evidence-based pharmacological treatments for AUD in outpatient settings and includes additional information on assessment and treatment planning, which are an integral part of using pharmacotherapy to treat AUD. In addition to reviewing the available evidence on the use of AUD pharmacotherapy, the guideline offers clear, concise, and actionable recommendation statements, each of which is given a rating that reflects the level of confidence that potential benefits of an intervention outweigh potential harms. The guideline provides guidance on implementing these recommendations into clinical practice, with the goal of improving quality of care and treatment outcomes of AUD.

"The goal of this practice guideline is to improve the quality of care and treatment outcomes for patients with schizophrenia. The guideline aims to help clinicians optimize care for their patients by providing evidence-based statements that are intended to enhance knowledge and increase the appropriate use of evidence-based pharmacological and nonpharmacological treatments for schizophrenia. In addition, it includes statements related to assessment and treatment planning, which are an integral part of patient-centered care"--

Developed by the APA to assist in clinical decision making, the "Practice Guidelines" series has become an invaluable resource to help benchmark care strategies for 11 common mental disorders. The APA makes "Practice Guidelines" available to help improve patient care and give members access to the latest information and research. Intended as a professional resource and not a "standard of care," the "Practice Guidelines" provide convenient summaries of what we know about key mental disorders and the effectiveness of specific treatments. The eleven "Practice Guidelines" are: Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias Of Late Life Bipolar Disorder, Second Edition Borderline Personality Disorder Delirium Eating Disorders, Second Edition HIV/AIDS Major Depressive Disorder, Second Edition Panic Disorder Psychiatric Evaluation Of Adults Schizophrenia Substance Use Disorder: Alcohol, Cocaine, Opioids These guidelines help you: Understand clinical features and symptoms Make a confident differential diagnosis Evaluate interventions commonly used to treat specific disorders Select the appropriate site of service Educate the patient and family Assess the efficacy and risks of available medications Develop an individualized treatment plan