Multisystemic therapy: a treatment for violent substance-abusing and substance-dependent juvenile offenders

Abstract

Adolescent violence and substance abuse result in substantial personal and societal cost. Many treatments fail to produce favorable outcome in terms of both violence and substance abuse with adolescents because they fail to comprehensively address etiological and maintaining factors. This article describes multisystemic therapy (MST), a family- and community-based treatment that has produced favorable outcomes with violent substance-abusing or -dependent adolescents in both realms. The clinical basis for the success of MST and studies supporting its effectiveness with violent and substance-abusing adolescents are presented.