NCJ Number
170951
Date Published
1998
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video profiles the components of and participants in two drug treatment programs.
Abstract
Most of the video consists of interviews with addicts in treatment and with treatment providers. Viewers also "sit in" on a group therapy session at the Ridgeview Institute near Atlanta. Participants discuss how the group therapy helps them to get in touch with their feelings and why they use drugs to cope with life. Further, group therapy provides a support network of people who have experienced the dynamics of addiction. Addicts who have been in treatment speak of the difficulties of sustaining a drug- free life. They must deal with the memories of the good feelings associated with drug use and the difficulty of changing behaviors and feelings to cope with life's difficulties without relying on drugs. Treatment providers, many of whom are ex-addicts, speak of the high percentage of relapses among program participants and the importance of receiving continuing support from a network of friends with the knowledge and relational skills to facilitate a commitment to remain drug-free. Self-help programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous, are important in preventing relapses. The video also visits Project Safe, an innovative drug treatment program that reaches out to disadvantaged mothers who are addicts, as well as to their children, who are at risk of becoming addicts. The core of the program is a network of caring people who provide continuing support for an effort to remain drug-free or to reaffirm a commitment to a drug-free life after a relapse. For other videos in the series, see NCJ-170948-50 and NCJ-170952.