Despite years of failed treatments, patient cuts back on drinking

A social worker, a mother and conference calls all united for what looks at this time like a happy outcome for one young man, despite the failure of multiple treatments. Residential treatment, individual counseling, Vivitrol, AA attendance, an interventionist and a stint at an unlicensed rehabilitation center all may have helped in this case study of a young man — age 36 by the time he started working with Patrick Doyle, a social worker who is a family coach enlisted by the patient's parents. But ultimately, they all failed, and the young man was in risky territory, with binges and blackouts. What saved him was his mother's decision to stand up to the insistence by the “recovery team” on total abstinence. The recovery team included Doyle, who recounted the story to ADAW last week, the parents, the therapist, and the interventionist.