Objectives: About 250,000 children and adolescents in Germany are dependent upon alcohol or at severe risk of developing an alcohol disorder. Whereas adults who abuse alcohol benefit from a variety of therapy manuals and numerous institutions offering long-term disorder-specific care, the situation with regard to adolescent patients needs to be upgraded.
Methods: We present the behavioral therapy of an alcohol-dependent 14-year-old boy, focusing on a version of Petry's therapy manual for alcoholism (1996) that has been adapted for the treatment of adolescents. The efficacy of worksheets as a supplement to the usual behavior therapy, or social or family interventions in the treatment of alcohol-dependent adolescents is discussed.