Group Treatment for Women Substance Abusers (From The Group Therapy of Substance Abuse, P 243-256, 2002, David W. Brook and Henry I. Spitz, eds. -- See NCJ-198401)

• NCJ Number: 198403
• Author(s): Valerie Gibbs
• Date Published: 2002
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: Haworth Medical Press
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

After reviewing pretreatment and treatment issues in group treatment for substance-abusing women, this chapter describes and assesses an interpersonal cognitive-behavioral model for the treatment of such women.

Abstract

Many treatment settings have begun to challenge traditional beliefs by integrating feminist principles into contemporary cognitive-behavioral models. With respect to cognitive-behavioral concerns, treatment of substance-abusing women is concerned primarily with maladaptive thinking patterns. A number of maladaptive thinking patterns are commonly found in substance abuse with respect to assertiveness or sexuality, which lend themselves to social immaturity and negative symptoms. Such negative outlooks must be modified to assist recovery. Other targets for treatment include low self-esteem, "all or none" assessments of self and others, feelings of anger and jealousy regarding other women caused by oppression or by forms of institutionalized discrimination, mother-daughter issues, and fear of male hostility or repression. These issues are of special relevance for women substance abusers because of their effects on self-image and achievement orientation. The author advises that in order to recognize, validate, and affirm their individual insights and to achieve the necessary identification with other group members, women benefit from being with other women in a homogeneous group. This chapter describes and evaluates a particular cognitive-behavioral model of group treatment for female substance abusers. Cognitive-behavioral techniques for instruction, modeling of various roles, and group process strategies are described within three group stages: early, middle, and later. Forty women were included in the group treatment. The evaluation found that the cognitive behavioral model for women increased their overall social competence in the course of sustained abstinence. The treatment also improved the negative symptoms often associated with poor treatment for women with substance-abuse disorders. Further, the treatment facilitated the emergence of those therapeutic group process factors found to enhance social competence in women with substance abuse. 25 references