Module 3: Treatment Strategies

3. Traditional Substance Abuse Treatment Interventions

Adolescent substance abuse treatment programs, like those for mental health, have developed from interventions designed to treat adults. They emphasize a medical/disease model of addiction, which does not by itself show efficacy when applied to adolescents (Brown, Mott, & Myers, 1990). Traditional substance abuse interventions include 12-Step programs and therapeutic communities. Descriptions of these traditional interventions are provided as background information for those who are not familiar with these programs.

Because of the legal sanctions for drug-related activity, many courts have mandated substance abuse treatment as part of a youth's stay in detention in correctional facilities or as a component of probation or parole.