Unilateral Family Therapy with the Spouses of Alcoholics

The design and development of a unilateral family therapy for alcohol abuse is reported from a study of 25 spouses. Subjects were recruited from newspaper advertisements in which spouses of partners who had a drinking problem and refused to enter treatment were solicited to receive free professional assistance. Treatment embraced treatment orientation, clinical assessment, spouse role induction, abuser-directed interventions, spouse-directed interventions, and maintenance. Results indicated that the unilateral treatment program can be implemented, the spouses of uncooperative alcohol abusers can be assisted to function as a positive rehabilitative influence with their alcoholic mates, and that important positive gains for the abusers and spouses can be achieved. It is concluded that the unilateral approach should be experimentally evaluated and, if results are favorable, applied with other populations.