From wanting to willing – controlled drug use as a treatment goal

Margaretha Järvinen

Social Science & Medicine, 2017, vol. 176, issue C, 69-76

Abstract: This paper uses rational choice theory to analyse a new – and controversial – treatment approach to drug problems: services aimed at making clients capable of controlled use of illegal drugs. The paper highlights three mechanisms used in control-focused treatment: attempts to move drug use from the sphere of “wanting” to the sphere of “willing”; temporal framing of illegal drug use; and a therapeutic focus on clients' resources rather than their problems. Furthermore, the paper identifies some of the main challenges associated with this kind of treatment. The paper is based on 30 qualitative interviews with young people (aged 18–25) enrolled in drug treatment in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Keywords: Denmark; Controlled drug use; Drug use as rational behaviour; Qualitative interviews; Young people (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953617300370
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:socmed:v:176:y:2017:i:c:p:69-76

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
http://www.elsevier. ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.030

Access Statistics for this article

Social Science & Medicine is currently edited by Ichiro (I.) Kawachi and S.V. (S.V.) Subramanian

More articles in Social Science & Medicine from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().