Drug abuse, paradigms and social work

Two different treatment practices for the inpatient treatment of drug abusers are described: the pedagogical and the therapeutic. The treatment practices are analyzed from the perspective of sociological theories of human action and from a cultural perspective. The control of the client is of crucial importance but it is exercised in different ways. In the pedagogical treatment practice, the control is manifested in the development of social skills and internalization of conventional roles and norms. In the therapeutic practice, the client's emotions and awareness of ontological facts as freedom and responsibility are objects of control.