Sections
Forces Leading to a Changed Approach to Addiction
Treatment | Research Leading to a New Model of Addiction Treatment | A New Approach to Addiction Treatment | Therapies | Posttreatment Monitoring | Organizational Infrastructure of the Addiction Treatment
System | Key Points | References | Suggested Reading
Excerpt
There has always been broad recognition that alcohol and drug
abuse are partly or fully responsible for such serious public health
and public safety problems as traffic accidents, street crime, transmission
of infectious diseases, child abuse and neglect, and excessive use
of medical services. During the 1970s, addiction treatments gained
prominence as a social response to these addiction-related problems.
This was because addiction treatments were less expensive than the available
alternatives (e.g., jail or hospitalization) and because there was
social compassion for the many addicted veterans of the Vietnam
War whose substance use problems were seen as a result of that war.