Chapter Five: Challenging General Patton

Abstract

Despite the wide acceptance that substance abuse is in part a family and cultural disease, few clinicians are trained to reconcile traditional addiction treatment with systems therapy. This picture seems to hold true for both addiction counselors and family therapists. Substance abuse clinicians, with their focus on an individual's addiction, do not always widen their lens to include the context of systems. Systems therapists do not always narrow their lens sufficiently to focus on substance abuse. An integrated, feminist approach to bridging these differences is discussed, emphasizing a non-hierarchical, respectful, and curious therapist stance which can effectively challenge denial. This paper outlines how this therapist stance can be explored in a training program. Emphasis is on the person of the therapist and on the many systems in which therapists are embedded, such as family of origin. Included is a discussion of systems therapy techniques that help maintain a curious and non-hierarchical therapeut...