The Heroin Addict's Pseudoassertive Behavior and Family Dynamics

Drugs and The Family

“…Researchers have looked at the heroin addict both within the family of origin (addict, siblings, parents, grandparents) and, to a lesser extent, the family of procreation (spouse or marital system). Concerning the former, reviews of the literature describe a generalized pattern for male addict families in which the mother is involved in an indulgent, overprotective, overly permissive relationship with the addict, who is put in the position of a favored chdd; he is reported by the mother to have been the "easiest to raise" of the children and generally "good" as a child (Ganger & Shugart, 1966;Torda, 1968). Fathers of male addicts are reported to be detached, uninvolved, weak, or absent.…”

An Overview of Marital and Family Treatments with Substance Abusing Populations

“…Ganger and Shugart (1966) investigated the use of family therapy with over 100 male addicts and found that successful treatment with this population required family involvement. Stanton and associates (1982) argued for family involvement based upon several studies with addicted families, as do Kaufman and Kaufman (1979).…”

Family Treatment Approaches to Drug Abuse Problems: A Review

“…Other considerations are also important. It is almost universally accepted by those who have studied compulsive drug use in families that the drug‐taking of one member is often overlooked by relatives; it may even be either openly or covertly encouraged (12, 49, 61, 80, 90, 104, 112, 132, 135). Further, not only can the drug‐taking pattern be supported and maintained by the system, but the family may actually work to sabotage those treatment efforts that begin to succeed in reducing or eliminating it.…”

“…In another early paper, Hirsh (64) described a group of five parents in which the participants resisted being labeled patients themselves and preferred to regard the group as a class or lecture program from which they could obtain advice. Ganger and Shugart (49) met with two groups of addicts' mothers but did not present their techniques. Amendolara (4) described the evolution of a mothers' group for suburban drug‐using youth into a large parents' group; she felt it was helpful and essential for treatment success.…”

“…She described an outpatient program in which a number of drug addicts' families were treated con‐jointly by cotherapists in an effort to improve family communication and promote understanding among members. Ganger and Shugart (49) used a similar approach, as did Jardin and Poirier (70). A Canadian program by Alexander and Dibb (3) treated white, middle‐class families in brief (five‐to eight‐session), strategically oriented multiple family therapy (MFT); most of the identified patients were outpatients on methadone.…”