engleski

Coerced addiction treatment: How, when and whom?

From the psychiatric point of view the aim and purpose of coercive treatment of addicts imply the creation of positive therapeutic pressure which could induce mobilization of all available motivational mechanisms focused on improving general health and on correction of inappropriate social behavior. An increasing number of individuals have been referred to treatment protocol under legal coercion from the criminal justice system-related to family law act, whereat optimal therapeutic results can be seen in alcoholics with conditional sentence along with coercive treatment within security measure. Adherence and acceptance of the treatment protocol is significantly higher in coerced population of addicts, emphasizing longer retention, better treatment attendance and reduction in criminal activity and drug use, compared to the voluntarily referred patients. Considering a significant number of coerced patients in treatment, one would expect to find a substantial body of structured researches addressing the relationship between the coercion and outcomes in comparison with addicts who entered treatment voluntarily, but this is not the case. Available data on drug addicts showed the efficiency of the treatment itself when completed and that even brief exposure to treatment protocol can result in fewer drug consumption and lower criminal activity. In this paper, we tried to explore the facts mentioned and the role of coercive treatment as well as the most frequent parameters of coercive treatment efficacy such as retention, abstinence duration and treatment attendance.

alcoholism ; coerced treatment ; retention ; family ; criminal act

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