No abstract

In this study, we evaluate the efficacy of multi-family therapy at reducing the addiction severity and at improving the psychological and family dynamics of opiate addicts receiving methadone treatment at a public treatment center. The study compares multi-family therapy with a reflecting team (MFT-RT) and a standard treatment following a methadone maintenance treatment program. The results show that multi-family therapy with a reflecting team effectively reduces the addiction severity in several of the areas evaluated and noted that this effect is superior to standard treatment. The psychotherapy patients showed improvement in the areas of employment and social support; their drug use diminished and their psychiatric condition improved. At the same time, they needed a lower daily dose of methadone. In addition, the group undergoing standard treatment showed a noteworthy deterioration in their medical condition. Both groups showed a significant increase in their alcohol use. When applied to family treatments, the systemic-constructivist approach by the reflecting team offers combined techniques that can help improve care for the families of patients with addiction problems.

Objective: To study the dyadic adjustment in parents of daughters with an eating disorder (ED). Method: 147 couples, 74 with a daughter with an ED: 20 with anorexia nervosa, restricting subtype (ANR), 23 with anorexia nervosa, bulimic subtype (ANB), and 31 with bulimia nervosa purging subtype (BN), and two control groups: 41 couples without pathology (CN group) and 32 couples with pathology (CNP group), evaluated with the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28), were assessed with the Dyadic Adjustment Scale, the Beck Depression Inventory and the Self-Rating Anxiety Scale. Results: The parents of daughters with an ED evidenced significantly worse dyadic adjustment than did the normal controls. When controlling for anxiety and depression, the dyadic satisfaction was lower in the mothers of daughters with ANR and BN, when compared to controls without pathology. The dyadic cohesion was lower in mothers of daughters with ANB, and the total adjustment was lower in the mothers of the ANB and BN groups versus CN group. Conclusion: These findings do not permit the attribution of the ED to the parents, because the poor dyadic adjustment could be an effect of the family burden. However, these findings suggest that treatment on ED should be supplemented by interventions aimed at the parents' dyadic adjustment.

El Objetivo de esta investigación fue evaluar la eficacia de dos tipos de intervenciones—Terapia Familiar Sistèmica (TFS) y Grupo de apoyo apadres + terapia de grupo (GAP + TG)—enfunción de los cambiosproducidos en los perfiles de personalidad del MMPI de pacientes ambulatorios con trastorno alimentario (TA) al año del inicio de la intervención. 46 sujetos con TA, 8 con anorexia restrictiva (ANR), 15 con anorexia bulímica (ANB) y 23 con bulimia nerviosa (BN) {de acuerdo a los criterios del Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4a edición (American Psychiatric Association, 1994)} fueron distribuidas al azar en uno de los dos grupos de tratamientoy fueron evaluadas a través del MMPI, al comienzo y final de la intervención. Ambos tratamientos muestran disminuciones significativas en las puntuaciones del MMPI en el postratamiento, aunque estas intervenciones breves no fueron suficientes para normalizar todas las escalas. La TFS consiguió mayores disminuciones significativas con respecto al GAP + TG en algunas escalas, especialmente en pacientes con bulimia nerviosa (BN). Los resultados apoyan la eficacia de este tipo de intervenciones en la mejora de los perfiles de personalidad de las pacientes con TA.

The treatment on the schizophrenia should be supplemented by interventions aimed at parents' dyadic adjustment, and mothers' anxiety and depression, so that they can be in better conditions to help their child.