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

Professor Margaretha Järvinen contributed to the journal Social Science & Medicine with the article 'From wanting to willing – controlled drug use as a treatment goal'.

The 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.

Margaretha Järvinen: 'From wanting to willing – controlled drug use as a treatment goal', Social Science & Medicine, Volume 176, March.