Some promising
results out of the University
of Minnesota’s Center for Adolescent Substance Abuse Research: brief
interventions can help students aged 12-18 dramatically reduce their substance
use – in as few as 2 sessions. The team, led by clinical psychologist Ken
Winters, PhD, Tamara Fahnhorst, MPH, and Andria Botzet, M Ed., implemented a
randomized controlled trial in an urban public school system, delivering one of
two treatment conditions, plus a control. The first, student-only condition
delivered two one-hour therapy sessions in a two-week period; the second added
a session with the parent(s) of the student. The results are impressive: while
37% of the control group reported avoiding cannabis during the last three
months at the 6-month follow-up, 63% of the parent-group and over 50% of the
student-only group reported the same.
See a complete
rundown at Drug
and Alcohol Findings or check the Journal
of Substance Abuse Treatment for the abstract.
Drug abuse makes the abuser hopeless and it becomes challenging for them to seek support by themselves.
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