Washington, Aug 6 : For women grappling with alcoholism, a new study has found that marital therapy may be more effective than traditional methods.
Researchers at RTI International; University of Southern California, San Diego; and Old Dominion University found that women alcoholics treated with behavior couples therapy combined with individual alcoholism treatment reported greater reductions in drinking and higher levels of satisfaction in their relationships during the year following treatment compared to women alcoholics who received traditional one-on-one counseling only or those who participated in educational lectures with their partners.
The study involved more than 120 female alcoholic patients and their male partners who were not substance abusers.
William Fals-Stewart, Ph.D., RTI's principal investigator and lead author for the study said that family and relationship factors play a particularly critical role in the drinking problems of women, and that therapy sessions that addressed both relationship and drinking problems were more effective in helping women get control over their alcoholism.
"Family and relationship factors play a particularly critical role in the drinking problems of women. Interventions specifically designed to address both relationship and drinking problems at the same time are more likely to have a greater benefit for female alcoholic patients than traditional treatment methods for alcoholism, which largely focus on drinking only," he said.
The study also found that female patients and their partners who received couples therapy reported lower levels of domestic violence during the year after treatment than patients who received the other interventions.
"Domestic violence is a significant and prevalent problem for alcoholic women who are involved in committed relationships, whether they are married or not. The reductions in physical aggression between partners observed in this study, along with decreases in drinking, strongly support the use of couples therapy as a treatment for married or cohabiting women seeking help for alcoholism," he said.
The study is published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. (ANI)