Drug and Alcohol Findings logo. Click to go to Effectiveness Bank web site Matrix cell
Supported by Alcohol Change UK web site. The national UK charity that aims to create evidence-driven change to reduce alcohol-related harm Alcohol Change UK
The national charity working
to end alcohol harm through
evidence-driven change

Highlight from Alcohol Treatment Matrix cell B4 Matrix cell logo
Is reflective listening all that’s needed?
Just two alcohol treatment studies have tested Carl Rogers’ classic account of the “necessary and sufficient conditions” for effective therapy. Each stripped out motivational interviewing’s directive elements, leaving only ‘Rogerian’ empathic and reflective listening. Did the clients do just as well? If the iconoclastic Rogers who “doubted every authority including his own” had lived to find out, he might have felt his doubts only partly justified.

Click button below to view the highlighted section of the cell.
Is reflective listening all that’s needed?
A highlight from one of the 25 cells in the Alcohol Treatment Matrix, a staff development resource mapping seminal and key research and guidance on alcohol brief interventions and treatment.
Also see hot topic on the influence of treatment staff.


“Wow, outstanding work! This is one of the best, most clear and scholarly write ups I’ve seen of this complex topic.”
Dr Lisa M. Najavits, Director of Treatment Innovations and adjunct professor, Massachusetts Medical School, USA, commenting on this cell

More on the matrices:
About the development and construction of the matrices
Alcohol Treatment Matrix for brief interventions and treatment for problem drinking.
Drug Treatment Matrix for harm reduction and treatment in relation to illegal drugs
Share your discovery of the matrices by sending an email to your colleagues

Sent by the Drug and Alcohol Findings Effectiveness Bank to alert you to site updates and UK-relevant evaluations of drug/alcohol interventions. Refresh of the Alcohol Treatment Matrix is funded by Alcohol Change UK. Findings is also supported by the Society for the Study of Addiction and advised by the National Addiction Centre.