Family-member involvement to initiate and promote treatment of problem drinkers

Abstract

The present study evaluated a method of teaching distressed family members of problem drinkers how to minimize their own distress, reduce the drinking, increase the motivation of the alcoholic to obtain formal treatment and assist in the treatment program. Twelve concerned family members were given either community-reinforcement counseling or a traditional type of counseling (control group). The reinforcement counseling resulted in more alcoholic persons obtaining treatment than did the traditional type and a greater reduction in drinking before the formal treatment was obtained; drinking was reduced further during the joint treatment of the family members and problem drinkers. These results suggest that the drinking of unmotivated alcoholic persons can be reduced by counseling concerned family members in the use of appropriate reinforcement procedures and can lead to the initiation of formal treatment.