Family therapy for Dutch drug users: the relationship between family functioning and success

This article reports treatment outcome in families with drug problems after a family therapy intervention. An attempt is made to determine what changes occur in family functioning in the course of treatment with family therapy, and how these changes relate to prolonged abstinence and improvement in social functioning in drug misusers. The results indicate that, overall, most families, one year after the start of family therapy, changed in the predicted direction as determined by an observation instrument. Furthermore, success in treatment for the drug misuser was most likely to occur in families in which the parents communicated with each other in a predominantly negative way at the beginning of therapy, and when, in the course of therapy, a significant change occurred toward a more positive supportive manner of communicating.