The essential thrust of this book is to deal
with clinical events and techniques for those cases actually involved in
family therapy. While Chapter 5 discusses recruitment principles that
also apply to the Family Movie cases and to treatment "refusers,- and
Chapter 17 presents outcomes for all four treatment conditions, the major concern is with family therapy. Thus attention will be
given here to the 46 cases (21 and 25,
respectively) in the combined Paid and Unpaid Family Therapy groups (although two Unpaid cases never
did, in fact, attend a family therapy
session). This gives a more accurate picture of the patient population with which the treatment
principles have been developed.
Demographics for the other groups are, of course, quite similar, and are presented elsewhere:-
Of the 46 family therapy patients, 48% were
Black and 52% White. Among the Whites, 40% were of Italian, and 25% of Irish extraction. The mean age at
intake was 24.7 years and ranged from age 20 to age 34. Some 24% were married and another 11% had
been previously married but were unmarried at intake. All had been away from home in military
service for at least a brief period in their lives; 32% had served in Vietnam and 5% had been
dishonorably discharged from the military
for drug use. Of the 46 patients, 61% still lived with their parent(s). Most had completed high school or
an equivalency examination, 4% were
in school or a training program, and 41%. were employed at intake. The average length of time during which they had
used opiates was 6.7 years, while 94% had been previously treated for drug abuse (i.e., they were "repeaters- ). The
socioeconomic composition of this (urban)
group, as defined by Hollingshead and Redlich's
Two-Factor Index of Social Position,69 was Class
III, 8%; Class IV, 66%; Class V, 26%.
Aside from their somewhat worse prognosis
(mentioned above and in Appendix C), the major differences
between this group and the overall DDTC patient population are probably that
this group (1) was slightly younger; (2) had a slightly higher
ratio of Whites to Blacks; (3 ) included fewer patients who had ever been
married; and (4) included a
somewhat lower percentage of patients in a school
or training pro-gram (4% vs. 18% ).
