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From structure to strategy with the families of solvent abusers
Author(s) -
Framrose R.
Publication year - 1982
Publication title -
journal of family therapy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-6427
pISSN - 0163-4445
DOI - 10.1046/j..1982.00576.x
Subject(s) - psychopathology , psychology , alliance , developmental psychology , sample (material) , outcome (game theory) , psychiatry , longitudinal sample , clinical psychology , chemistry , chromatography , political science , law , mathematics , mathematical economics
A psychiatric out‐patient sample of forty‐five teenage solvent abusers and their families is described. Most lived in socially deprived areas. In this necessarily unrepresentative clinic sample family psychopathology was characterized by (i) adult intimacy‐avoidance and (ii) a powerful, collusive alliance between mother and adolescent. These were linked in a circular pattern of systemic dysfunction, social and generational influences tending to strengthen homeostatic rigidity. Structural and strategic treatment approaches are described with case illustrations and discussed. At the six‐month follow‐up a good outcome was recorded in three‐quarters of the treated cases but the effects of sample bias and ‘soft’ evaluative data should be borne in mind.