Addiction Therapy and Treatment

Addiction is a national mental and medical health crisis, responsible for untold costs to society and severe suffering to innumerable people. Yet addiction treatment, as it is now practiced, fails half the time. The current treatment approach has changed little in the last 80 years and is a hodgepodge of often shady treatment approaches. This book presents a radically different addiction treatment paradigm, based on science, evidence and best practices, and has a success rate approaching 100% when followed closely. This model should profoundly upend the current addiction treatment industry.
Nearly every addict lives in a social system—a family, workplace or community—that enables and supports, often unconsciously, the addict’s addiction. Instead of the current addict-focused approach, this model extends treatment to the entire support system, starting treatment with the concerned family members. This model also proposes a single provider, the family recovery therapist, who manages treatment for the addict and the family from the first phone call through the first year of continuous sobriety. This book offers simple recommendations to both addiction treatment providers and family members impacted by this disease. It serves as a beacon of hope for families.

Larry Fritzlan, LMFT, is a California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), a Certified Addiction Specialist (CAS), and a Board Certified Intervention Professional (CIP). In private practice for the past 25 years, he specializes in working with families suffering from addiction and codependency. His office is in Corte Madera, California.

Avis Rumney, LMFT is a California Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), a Board Certified Intervention Professional (CIP) and an eating disorder specialist, in private practice in Marin County, California. More information on addiction, codependency, and eating disorders can be found at her website AvisRumneyMFT.com.

Larry Fritzlan, LMFT, with Avis Rumney, LMFT
Foreword by Brad Reedy, Ph.D.
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 339
Bibliographic Info: 23 photos, appendices, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2023
pISBN: 978-1-4766-8814-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-4728-9
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments ix
Foreword 1
Introduction 7
Part One. Theory and Principles
Chapter 1—Addiction Treatment: Introducing a New Paradigm 11
Chapter 2—The Fourteen Principles of Family Recovery Therapy 34
Chapter 3—What Is Addiction? 67
Chapter 4—Effective Treatment—FRT’s Fourteen Principles and the Federal Guidelines for Addiction Treatment 88
Chapter 5—Bowen’s Theory of Family Systems 107
Part Two. Practice
Chapter 6—Introduction to Case Studies 131
Chapter 7—Case Study—Young Adult 137
Chapter 8—Case Study—Spouse 159
Chapter 9—Case Study—Parent 184
Chapter 10—Case Study—Adolescent 207
Chapter 11—Stephanie Brown’s Developmental Model of Family Recovery and FRT 216
Part Three. Using Adjunctive Resources
Chapter 12—Working with Other Treatment Providers 233
Chapter 13—Social Support and Mutual Aid Groups 251
Chapter 14—Drug Testing 281
Conclusion 289
Appendix A. Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of ­Psycho-Social Development 293
Appendix B. The Fourteen Principles of Family Recovery Therapy 297
Appendix C. How AA Works with Professionals 299
Appendix D. Dr. Kevin McCauley’s Ten Principles of Successful Addiction Treatment 302
Appendix E. Addiction/Codependency Family Treatment Agreement 305
Appendix F. Additional Resources 307
Appendix G. Testing Instruments 308
Appendix H. The Cost of Addiction Treatment 311
Appendix I. “REQUIEM: My Mother’s Unspeakable Illness” by Cynthia Gorney 313
Appendix J. From Addiction to Healthy Self 316
Appendix K. How to Find Social Support Groups 318
Appendix L. Spiritual Experience 319
References 321
Index 327

• “This text advances a new paradigm to improve addiction treatment outcomes, the Family Recovery Treatment (FRT) model. … Through case studies, the text describes FRT in practice, providing evidence-driven instructive guidance for implementing an effective recovery management system and team. …recommended”—Choice

• “Larry Fritzlan accurately identifies the weak link in current Substance Use Disorder treatment—the lack of quality case management. Too often doctors, psychologists, therapists and counselors involved in a patient’s care do not coordinate their efforts, fail to follow up, or even to communicate with each other. Fritzlan describes how family therapists are in the best position to manage the treatment team to assure everyone has input to the overall treatment plan and works toward the same goal.”—Tim Cermak, MD, author of From Bud to Brain: A Psychiatrist’s View of Marijuana

• “Larry Fritzlan covers multiple issues, and a range and depth in theory and practice, as he offers a radically new paradigm for treating addiction. You will return to Addiction Therapy and Treatment: A Systems Approach for years ahead.”—Stephanie Brown, Ph.D., director, The Addictions Institute

• “Larry Fritzlan has created a clear and instructive book to help families and therapists put together an effective recovery management system. The best recovery plans that I see are those that are coordinated by a single, licensed mental health professional who understands the special needs of families coping with addiction and can coordinate additional treatments as the needs of the family system evolve. Larry’s book will help families and therapists put together just such an effective recovery management system that will see them through the first year of recovery and beyond.”—Kevin McCauley, MD, senior fellow, Meadows Behavioral Healthcare, Arizona