Helping Spouses Make a Sober Vow

Alcoholics with stable, supportive families are more likely to get and stay sober, research shows. But alcoholism itself often tears families apart. How to solve this dilemma? An innovative rehabilitation program called Counseling for Alcoholics' Marriages treats the drinker together with his or her spouse, and the result is fewer re-lapses—and fewer divorces.

Project CALM, a program of the Harvard Medical School, gives its participants group and couples therapy, along with take-home exercises that focus on building trust and commitment between partners and on celebrating sobreity rather than punishing drinking. Says Robert Rotunda, Ph.D., a CALM research associate: "Abstinence can be rewarded by engaging in positive, fun activities that were enjoyed prior to problematic drinking, by working together to plan the family's future and solve its problems--rather than allowing it to be pulled apart by drinking—and by telling and showing the person in recovery that you appreciate all the effort they've put into change."