Drug treatment self-help

Effectiveness of Drug Treatment Nonpharmacological Professional Treatment Self-Help Treatment Pharmacological Treatments Promising Treatment Techniques Special Topics in Alcohol and Drug Treatment... 

As a researcher and therapist, I also do not like the use of colloquial terms such as addict or junkie. These terms, although potentially helpful for some who find recovery in self-help programs, are not useful for everyone with a drug problem, and can be demeaning to some. In fact, some of my clients have been put off by such labels in treatment, and found them stigmatizing, and therefore potentially harmful. Besides, such terms are highly pejorative and uncomplimentary descriptions of behavior and are not diagnostically accurate terms (i.e., are not defined in the DSM-IV). I choose not to use these terms with my own clients for these reasons. 

In this section we briefly describe the peer self-help movement organized for helping individuals identified as alcoholics—Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Because of space limitations we cannot describe in detail the major self-help groups for the treatment of drug problems, called Narcotics Anonymous (NA). NA is analogous to AA, however, and what wc know about AA can be applied readily to NA. 

We have spent so much space on AA and its relatives because they arc by far tlic most prevalent and influential self-help treatments for alcohol and drug use disorders. Perhaps stimulated by AA s success, other t pcs of self-help groups for alcohol and drug problems have been organized. One important example is Women for, Sobriety (WFS), which began in 1975 (Women for Sobriety, 1985). WPS groups arc now available throughout the United States and in other countries as well. 

The American disease model is especially important because of its u idespread prevalence and prominence in the United States. It also is the foundation of Alcoholics Anonymous and other self-help groups. In the American disease model (it is called American because it is not nearly so popular in otlier countries), alcohol and drug dependence is viewed as the product of a progressiv e, irreversible disease. The disease is described as a merging of physical, psychological, and spiritual causes. The treatment that follows from the disease model is to identify people who have the disease, confront them with it, help them to accept that they have it, and persuade them to abstain from alcohol and other drugs. 

Humphreys, K., Wing, S., McCarty, D., Chappel, J., Gallant, L., Habcrie, B., ct al. (2004). Self-help organizations for alcohol and drug problems Toward evidence-based practice and policy. Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, 26, 151-158. 

Self-help groups are a well-known aspect of outpatient drug treatment. Organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous are often viewed as extensions of drug therapy and counseling programs. 

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