Family therapy for Dutch drug abusers: replication of an American study

This paper presents the results of an evaluation study conducted in The Netherlands in which an attempt was made to determine the efficacy of family therapy treatment for drug abusers in that country. The theory underlying the approach, as formulated most prominently by Stanton and Todd, is outlined. This study is an attempt to replicate Stanton and Todd's finding that significantly more drug abusers who underwent family therapy would abstain than would clients who received methadone treatment. Stanton and Todd's findings were partly confirmed. As in their study, nearly two-thirds of the clients abstained from heroin and 75% of the clients abstained from illegal use of nonopiates. No significant differences were found, however, between the experimental and the control group in the Dutch study.