1st Edition

Familial Responses to Alcohol Problems

Edited By Judith L. Fischer, Miriam Mulsow, Alan W. Korinek Copyright 2007
    174 Pages
    by Routledge

    176 Pages
    by Routledge

    Effective interventions for alcohol problems that devastate families

    An individual’s alcohol abuse can devastate the rest of his or her family in various ways. Familial Responses to Alcohol Problems explores the latest research and state-of-the-art programs that provide effective strategies for prevention and treatment. Experts in the fields of alcohol and families discuss the most current studies, innovative programs, and practical therapy approaches that focus on the goal of bringing alcoholic individuals into recovery and mending the psychological impact on other family members. This single volume provides specific guides and evidence-based best practices, making it invaluable to any professional providing therapy or counseling to families experiencing the issues and challenges involved in recovery.

    Drawing upon the perspectives from family systems theory, Familial Responses to Alcohol Problems reviews the current literature, research programs, and therapy approaches to family response to alcohol. This comprehensive text discusses the topic from various points in the lifespan, including childhood, adolescence and youth, and older age. Discussions include examining situations when parents have the disease that impacts their children and other relatives, parents interacting with children to prevent or reduce a child’s involvement with alcohol, attempting to involve a family member in seeking help with alcoholism, children intervening in a parent’s alcohol abuse, couples who enter into recovery and deal with subsequent issues stemming from that misuse, co-occurrence of other disorders, and recovery that includes attention to spiritual development.

    Topics discussed in Familial Responses to Alcohol Problems include:

    • the Michigan Longitudinal Study
    • insight into the effect alcohol abuse in the family has on three developmental pathways of children
    • three researched-based approaches to treating adolescent alcohol misuse in a family
    • an overview describing the “invisible epidemic” of alcohol abuse by older family members
    • three stages families encounter as they advance in recovery
    • bringing a family member into treatment
    • the impact of family recovery on members
    • a research-based approach to bring the individual with the alcohol problem into contact with professionals
    • evolving issues in recovery process, including couple identity, family origin issues, couple interdependence
    • issues in four common comorbidity diagnoses with alcohol problems
    • how and when spiritual issues may be used in family recovery

    Familial Responses to Alcohol Problems is a timely single resource presenting up-to-date research and therapy approaches, making this text important reading for educators, therapists, addictions counselors, and graduate students.

    • Family Systems, Biopsychosocial Processes, and Lifespan Development: Introduction to Family Response to Alcohol Problems (Judith L. Fischer, Alan Korinek, and Miriam Mulsow)
    • Family Response to Children and Alcohol (Hiram E. Fitzgerald, Leon I. Puttler, Susan Refior, and Robert A. Zucker)
    • Family Response to Adolescence, Youth and Alcohol (Judith L. Fischer, Boyd W. Pidcock, and Barbra J. Fletcher-Stephens)
    • Alcohol Abuse by Older Family Members: A Family Systems Analysis of Assessment and Intervention (Charles D. Stelle and Jean Pearson Scott)
    • Family Motivation to Change: A Major Factor in Engaging Alcoholics in Treatment (James Garrett and Judith Landau)
    • Family Response to Adults and Alcohol (Robert Navarra)
    • Coping Strategies for the Stages of Family Recovery (Virginia Lewis and Lois Allen-Byrd)
    • Treatment of Comorbidity in Families (Miriam Mulsow)
    • Promoting Spirituality in Families with Alcoholism (Alan W. Korinek)
    • Index
    • Reference Notes Included

    Biography

    Judith L. Fischer, Miriam Mulsow, Alan W. Korinek

    "...provides a strong theoretical framework for assessing families by utilizing a biopsychosocial model and integrating family systems theory into the intervention and treatment of families facing alcohol problems...a valuable tool for professionals and students interested in alcohol and drug counseling, marriage and family counseling, psychology, psychiatry, social work, and sociology...a valuable source of knowledge for alcohol and drug treatment programs..."

    - Barbra Teater, Families in Society: The Journal of Contemporary Social Services