title: Spouse enabling of alcohol abuse: conception, assessment, and modification.
abstract: This article presents a conception of spouse enabling of partner alcohol abuse, a review of its dysfunctions, and an approach to assessment and modification to reduce spouse enabling behavior. Based on experience with its use in unilateral family therapy with many spouses of treatment-refusing alcohol abusers, procedural guidelines, treatment methods, two case examples from a crossover experimental dyad, and clinical results for the two cases in the dyad are described. Also presented are practice issues, characteristics of spouse enabling as they relate to disenabling intervention, and areas of possible application of the disenabling program.
authors: University of Michigan School of Social Work, Ann Arbor 48109-1285, USA.
authors: E J
authors: EJ
authors: Thomas
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Yoshioka
authors: R D
authors: RD
authors: Ager
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001521:Behavior Therapy; D017004:Codependency, Psychological; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D005196:Family Therapy; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010552:Personality Assessment; D018454:Spouses / Q000523:psychology*; D016312:Treatment Refusal