Family therapy approach to addiction

Family therapy has made a substantial contribution to the prevention of drug addiction. This approach takes fully into account psycho-social relationships in families, particularly in families experiencing addiction, as well as changes in patterns of family life and in social attitudes towards addiction. Drug addiction is a manifestation of serious dysfunctional relationships and interactions in the family and is often interrelated with child and spouse abuse. Such family situations require multidisciplinary therapy measures for which the family, with its network of relationships and behavioural interactions, rather than the individual alone, is regarded as the unit of treatment.