Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
Volume 37, Issue 4 , Pages 379-387, December 2009

Behavioral couple therapy for gay and lesbian couples with alcohol use disorders

  • William Fals-Stewart, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • School of Nursing, University of Rochester, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Rochester, NY 14642, USA
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. School of Nursing, University of Rochester, 601 Elmwood Avenue, NY 14642, USA. Tel.: +1 585 276 3486; fax: +1 585 273 1270.
    • ,
  • Timothy J. O'Farrell, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • Harvard Medical School Department of Psychiatry, VA Boston Healthcare System, 940 Belmont Street (VAMC 116B1), Brockton, MA 02301, USA
    • ,
  • Wendy K.K. Lam, Ph.D.

      Affiliations

    • School of Nursing, University of Rochester, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Rochester, NY 14642, USA

Received 23 February 2009; received in revised form 7 May 2009; accepted 12 May 2009. published online 25 June 2009.

Abstract 

Gay (n = 52) and lesbian (n = 48) patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and their non-substance-abusing same-sex relationship partners were randomly assigned to equally intensive interventions consisting of (a) behavioral couples therapy (BCT) plus individual-based treatment (IBT) or (b) IBT only. This study reports two separate trials, one with gay male participants and one with lesbian female participants. For both gay and lesbian patients with AUD, those who received BCT had a significantly lower percentage of days of heavy drinking during the year after treatment than patients who received IBT only. In addition, both gay and lesbian couples who received BCT reported higher levels of relationship adjustment at the end of treatment and in the year after treatment than those who received IBT only. Thus, the response of gay and lesbian couples with an alcoholic member to BCT was consistent with what has been observed with heterosexual couples.

Keywords: Gay, Lesbian, Behavioral couple therapy, Alcohol, Randomized clinical trial

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PII: S0740-5472(09)00085-3

doi:10.1016/j.jsat.2009.05.001

Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment
Volume 37, Issue 4 , Pages 379-387, December 2009

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