In a letter to  The New Yorker published in January 2009, Mark Willenbring, Director of the Division of Treatment and Recovery Research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) addresses the article titled “Special Treatment,” by Amanda Fortini: The article features a Los Angeles area deluxe treatment facility. In the article, after a string of  platitudes about addiction and the difficulties of recovery, the owners of the facility claimed that in essence treatment could make no difference, everything depended on the addicted person’s motivation.

Willenbring writes:

“…The program that Fortini describes appears to base its services on a treatment model that is more than thirty years old, with latitude and luxury as added inducements. Although clients may or may not receive some benefit, they are vulnerable to unnecessary relapse risk if more contemporary treatments are not also made available.”

“…Newer behavioral approaches, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing, also increase recovery and provide alternatives to the traditional Twelve Step approach (which in updated form is also effective). This menu of services makes possible truly individualized treatment and increases client choice and engagement, but only if people have access to it.”

The current Drug and Alcohol Dependence Treatment Industry remains highly focused on the methods pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous, which were developed in the 1930′s. Fortunately, although slowly, modern psychology research and methods are being accepted. As government institutions, such as the NIAAA, accepts the value and validity of such modern treatment methods it will trickle down into treatment centers and the public consciousness. In the end, this will help those individuals dealing with dependence find the help they truly need to live happier and healthier  lives.