van de Velde J C, Schaap G E, Land H
Nieuw Hoog-Hullen, Eelde, The Netherlands.
Subst Use Misuse. 1998 Jun;33(8):1611-27. doi: 10.3109/10826089809058947.
This paper reports on inpatient treatment of addicts. Attention is paid to the Therapeutic Community (TC) model employed with alcoholics. A sample of 881 patients was assessed at intake and was followed up. The results demonstrate that the patients improved on a variety of outcome measures. Some associations were found between patient variables and improvement. Treatment variables predicting a positive outcome were sustained treatment in a TC and attending AA meetings. The relative efficacy of TCs, originally created by drug users, holds for alcoholics as well. It is concluded that an important precondition to a positive treatment outcome is the continuity of the treatment process. Pursuing that continuity seems to be an excellent mediate goal for both addicts and treatment personnel.
