Multidimensional Family Therapy

Multidimensional family therapy (MDFT), created by Howard A. Liddle, is a family-based treatment that was developed for adolescents with drug and behavior problems and for substance abuse prevention with early adolescents. MDFT as a community and home therapy works in a variety of environmental domains such as the self, family, school, peers, and neighborhood in an effort to eliminate or significantly reduce drug use, as well as providing alternatives to a drug-using lifestyle. It is a multiple systems-oriented and developmentally focused therapy that can be utilized to target the known areas of risk associated with adolescent drug abuse and delinquency. MDFT also focuses on enhancing those protective factors and processes that are understood to promote successful teen and family development.