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Block 2 Therapeutic Interventions

Unit 7 Family Interventions for Substance Use

1. What is the difference between family therapy and family involved therapy?

Difference between Family Therapy and Family Involved Therapy:

1. Family involved therapy is primarily psycho-educational, aiming to inform families about substance abuse, its related behaviours, and consequences. It focuses on educating the family about relationship patterns that may contribute to substance abuse.
2. Family therapy, on the other hand, goes beyond education and attempts to address the maladaptive relationship patterns among family members that contribute to substance abuse. It focuses on intervening within the family system to change these patterns. In this approach, the family is the primary therapeutic group.
3. Essentially, family involved therapy educates, while family therapy actively intervenes within the family system.

2. Write a note on multidimensional family therapy.

1. MDFT is a family therapy approach specifically developed for adolescent substance abuse and related behavioural problems.
2. It views substance abuse as a multi-determined and multidimensional disorder, considering individual, family, and environmental factors.
3. MDFT uses an integrative framework that includes developmental, environmental, and contextual factors to understand how substance abuse starts, progresses, and ceases.
4. This therapy aims to help the adolescent and family adapt to developmental challenges. It seeks to enhance psychosocial functioning, coping skills, peer relations, and family relationships.
5. MDFT involves multilevel, multidomain, and multicomponent interventions, with flexible treatment plans that are tailored to the needs of the family.
6. The therapy involves individual and family sessions and sessions with others outside the immediate family.

3. Highlight the advantages and disadvantages of family therapy in the context of substance abuse.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Family Therapy in the Context of Substance Abuse:

1. Advantages:

   • Family therapy addresses the family dynamics and familial variables that can precipitate or maintain substance use patterns.
   • It helps correct maladaptive familial interaction patterns that have a long-standing impact on managing problematic substance use.
   • Family therapy uses the social support systems available to an individual facing substance abuse by involving family members.
   • It enhances communication and facilitates emotional expression among family members, thus fostering healthier relationships.

2. Disadvantages:

   • Some theories lack operationally defined concepts, making it difficult to apply practically.
   • Family therapy might not address power dynamics within the family adequately.
   • It can be expensive and time-consuming, requiring cooperation from family members.
   • The approach can assume that familial patterns are the basis of the problem, which is not always the case.
   • It can sometimes neglect individual psychological factors.
   • Traditional approaches can ignore the role of gender, socio-cultural, and political contexts of family life, potentially forcing traditional roles.

4. Define family therapy.

Family therapy or family intervention consists of therapeutic approaches based on family-level assessment and intervention. Family therapy in substance abuse treatment has two main purposes. First is to utilize the family’s strengths and resources to help find or develop alternative ways to cope with various problems rather than resort to excessive use of substances. Second, it reduces the impact of chemical dependency on both the person who uses substances and the family.

5. What are the goals of family therapy?

The goals of family therapy include: to help the family become aware of its own needs and facilitate better functioning among family members; inculcate better communication strategies among family members and encourage them to work towards common goals; help the family make interpersonal, intrapersonal, and environmental changes affecting the person using alcohol or drugs; and to prevent abuse patterns to continue across generations.

Important Points

i. Solution Focused therapy puts emphasis on the solutions that are available to the family, not on how the problem developed or what function it might serve.

ii. Bepko and Krestan’s Theory approach focuses on the person who abuses substances and the substance of abuse as a system as well as looking at intrapersonal, interpersonal, and gender systems.

iii. Behavioural Marital Therapy approach treats alcohol problems within a couples counselling framework.