CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 174Substance Abuse Treatment and OutcomesCounseling, Therapy, and Family DynamicsPsychotherapy Techniques and Applications

Review of outcome research on marital and family therapy in treatment for alcoholism

Open access
O’Farrell, Timothy J., Clements, Kahni·2012·Journal of Marital and Family Therapy
DOI 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2011.00242.xPMC PMC3270890
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

This review of controlled studies of marital and family therapy (MFT) in alcoholism treatment updates the earlier review by O’Farrell and Fals‐Stewart (2003). We conclude that, when the alcoholic is unwilling to seek help, MFT is effective in helping the family cope better and motivating alcoholics to enter treatment. Specifically, both Al‐Anon facilitation and referral and spouse coping skills training (based on new findings) help family members cope better, and CRAFT promotes treatment entry and was successfully transported to a community clinic in a new study. Once the alcoholic enters treatment, MFT, particularly behavioral couples therapy (BCT), is clearly more effective than individual treatment at increasing abstinence and improving relationship functioning. New BCT studies showed efficacy with women alcoholics and with gay and lesbian alcoholics, and BCT was successfully transported to a community clinic, a brief BCT version was tested, and BCT was adapted for family members other than spouses. Future studies should evaluate the following: MFT with couples where both members have a current alcohol problem and with minority patients, mechanisms of change, transportability of evidence‐based MFT approaches to clinical practice settings, and replication of MFT outcomes of reduced partner violence and improved child functioning.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1111/j.1752-0606.2011.00242.x

Cites

89 of 89 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • In the United States, Al-Anon is the most commonly used source of assistance for family members and friends worried about someone with a drinking problem.

    “Al-Anon Family Groups (Al-Anon), a 12-step mutual-help program, is the most widely-used form of help in the US for concerned other people (COs) who are family and friends of problem-drinking individuals.1–3”

    From Al-Anon family groups' newcomers and members: Concerns about the drinkers in their lives: Concerns About Drinkers in Al-Anon (2014) · cites this paper as [2]

    In “Helping the Family” (page unavailable), the review calls Al-Anon the most widely used source of support for family members troubled by a loved one’s alcohol problem. It does not specify that this ranking applies in the United States or extend it to friends who are not family members. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The results suggest that studies of couples and family treatments for substance use problems should broaden outcome domains and interventions beyond reduced substance use and increased relationship satisfaction.

    “These results suggest that studies of couples and family treatments for substance use problems should expand outcome domains and interventions beyond the primary foci of reduced substance use and increased relationship satisfaction.2”

    From Al-Anon family groups' newcomers and members: Concerns about the drinkers in their lives: Concerns About Drinkers in Al-Anon (2014) · cites this paper as [2]

    The Future Research Directions section explicitly calls for expanding outcome domains and interventions beyond reduced drinking and increased relationship satisfaction. The cited recommendation concerns alcoholism; the citing sentence broadens it to substance use problems generally. (LLM, conf=0.84)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • The problematic relationships reported by Al-Anon attendees support the view that concerned others and their drinkers often need relationship counseling.

    “the problematic relationships reported by Al-Anon attendees support the idea that COs and their drinkers are often in need of relationship counseling.2”

    From Al-Anon family groups' newcomers and members: Concerns about the drinkers in their lives: Concerns About Drinkers in Al-Anon (2014) · cites this paper as [2]

    In “Helping the Family” (page unavailable), the review says family members troubled by a loved one’s drinking often experience stress and identifies Al-Anon as a source of support. It also discusses couples therapy, but does not report problematic relationships described by Al-Anon attendees or conclude from those reports that attendees and their drinkers often need relationship counseling. (LLM, conf=0.76)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. Dittrich JE Trapold MA 1984 Wives of alcoholics: A treatment program and outcome study Bulletin of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors 3 91 102
  2. Howells E Orford J 2006 Coping with a problem drinker: A therapeutic intervention for the partners of problem drinkers, in their own right Journal of Substance Use 11 53 71
  3. O’Farrell TJ 1993 A behavioral marital therapy couples group program for alcoholics and their spouses O’Farrell TJ Treating alcohol problems: Marital and family interventions 170 209 New York Guilford Press
  4. Rychtarik RG McGillicuddy NB 1998 Effects of skill training and twelve-step facilitation on posttreatment coping skills in women with alcoholic partners Poster presented at International Conference on Treatment of Addictive Behaviors Santa Fe
  5. Thomas EJ Ager RD 1993 Unilateral family therapy with spouses of uncooperative alcohol abusers O’Farrell TJ Treating alcohol problems: Marital and family interventions 3 33 New York Guilford Press

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
O’Farrell, T. J., & Clements, K.
Affiliations
Harvard University (US)
Corresponding author
O’Farrell, Timothy J.
Venue
Journal of Marital and Family Therapy
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2011-08-30
Volume
38
Issue
1
Pages
122-144
ISSN
  • 0194-472X (ISSN-L)
  • 1752-0606
DOI
10.1111/j.1752-0606.2011.00242.x
PMC
PMC3270890
OpenAlex
W2126751162
Cited by
174
References
86
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 24 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 4
FWCI
1.28
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor (vor)
Locations
  • Journal of Marital and Family Therapy (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01AA017865)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
Keywords
marital and family therapy, alcoholism treatment, behavioral couples therapy, Al-Anon, crafts, treatment entry, abstinence, relationship functioning, women alcoholics, family coping, intimate partner violence, child functioning
MeSH terms
Adaptation, Psychological, Alcoholism, Attitude to Health, Counseling, Female, Humans, Male, Marital Therapy, Patient Compliance, Research Design, Sex Factors, Outcome Assessment, Health Care, Homosexuality, Male, Homosexuality, Female, Self Efficacy, Behavior Control, Evidence-Based Practice

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review