When treating family drug addiction and alcoholism there are a variety of family therapy models to choose from, depending on the family characteristics and IP (identified patient). For instance, it is typically found that families with a female who has a drug addiction are more dysfunctional than families with a male who suffers from a drug addiction. Furthermore, families with adolescents typically need a different method of treatment then those without.

Other factors that determine treatment are:

1. Ethnicity
2. The stage of the families' life cycle
3. The level at which the family reacts

There are four models to choose from:

1. Structural family therapy - this is designed to change the family system structure during treatment by initiating family interaction.
2. Strategic family therapy - the counselor views the maladaptive behavior as a way to deal with problems. The problem with this is that the method will eventually take control of the family's interactions. In this model the counselor will implement new constructive behavior to eliminate the destructive behavior.
3. Systems therapy - when two individuals within a family have a problem with each other, they will displace that issue onto a third person, causing conflict. This is called triangulation.
4. Behavioral family therapy - this is frequently used to treat adolescent drug users. In this model, the use of behavioral methods are employed to regulate drug use triggers by rearranging contingencies, cognitive rearranging, creating alternatives to drug use, maintenance planning, and skills preparation in problem-solving assertion.