Substance abuse and chemical dependency can have a devastating effect on the individual and the family. Often the individual enters a rehab facility, where he undergoes some form of treatment, and leaves only to return a few months later. According to a report by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment, or CSAT, published in 2008, "Family involvement is necessary to improve the quality of care provided and to insure that all adolescents and their families in need of substance abuse treatment receive accessible, appropriate and quality treatment."
Overall Benefits
CSAT states that a collaborative relationship can be formed between professionals and families, whereby family members are made aware that addiction is a brain disease---and therefore they can develop realistic expectations for recovery. Families also learn about current services, policies and procedures and emerging trends. At the same time, the rehab professionals learn about the families' strengths and weaknesses and unique experiences. Family therapy may benefit family members as much as the addicted individual, as it enhances the family's ability to work through conflicts together.
Types Of Programs
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, lists ways in which programs can involve the family in substance abuse treatment. One way is by providing staff with training on the importance of the family as a positive resource in treatment. Another way is through public education on the role of the family in substance abuse treatment. Actively involving clients' families and making them aware of their importance in treatment comes produces good results, and finally, a fully integrated, "one-stop assistance" for clients and families with human and financial support.
Treatment Outcomes
Family involvement in substance abuse treatment increases treatment entry rates and decreases dropout rates. Successful long-term recovery results when family members understand how they have participated in the client's substance abuse and are willing to support his recovery. Family members as well as the client benefit as the focus can be on larger family issues. Integrated models can also prevent substance abuse from happening in the following generations.
Values To The Treatment Professional
Family involvement in substance abuse treatment also has value to the professionals who work with these clients. In addition to the promise of enhanced treatment outcomes, integrated models focus on the whole family and lead to reduced resistance to treatment. Counselors have more flexibility and creativity in treatment planning as they can adjust their treatment to suit their own individual styles and strengths. One very important benefit of the integrated model of treatment is a reduction in cost. For example, a family therapist and a substance abuse counselor can work together with the same group of patients, thereby decreasing the number of treatment sessions and reducing cost.
Expert Insight
Barbara Mc Crady, a former professor of psychology at Rutgers and now director of University of New Mexico's Center on Alcoholism, Substance Abuse and Addictions and Elizabeth Epstein, associate research professor at the Center of Alcohol Studies, set out to find whether alcohol-dependent women did better when treated with their spouses rather than individually. They recruited 102 alcohol-dependent women who were either married or in a committed relationship with a man. At the end of the six-month study, the researchers found that "women treated in couples therapy maintained their gains a bit better than those in individual therapy." Their findings were published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology in April, 2010.
