title: Juvenile drug addiction: a typology of heroin addicts and their families.
abstract: In this article the authors propose: 1) a typology of drug addiction cases consisting of four main classes: A. traumatic drug addiction, B. drug addiction from actual neuroses, C. transitional drug addiction, and D. sociopathic drug addiction; 2) a clinical study (with 18 months of follow-up data) involving 131 heroin addicts mostly treated with structural or counterparadoxical family therapy in the same psychotherapy center and in the same year; and 3) some preliminary conclusions emerging from an examination of the four-class typology with respect to the effectiveness of family therapy interventions. If, for example, structural family therapy techniques seem more suitable in type-B cases (similar to cases described by Haley in his Leaving Home), the counterparadoxical techniques are likely to be more effective in type-C cases (similar to the anorectics described by Selvini-Palazzoli).
authors.affiliation: Instituto di Psichiatrica, Università degli Studi La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cancrini
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cingolani
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Compagnoni
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Costantini
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mazzoni
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005191:Family Characteristics; D005196:Family Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012657:Self-Help Groups