Attachment, motivation, and clinical progress in a Filipino therapeutic community: a mediation analysis

Purpose The therapeutic community (TC) is a widely used intervention program in treating substance use disorders. Despite its documented utility, researchers and practitioners are still perplexed on how it exactly works. The purpose of this paper is to suggest the role of attachment styles and treatment motivation in the TC process. Design/methodology/approach Applying an explanatory correlational research, this notion was tested by examining the responses of 200 patients with substance use disorder in a TC using mediation analysis. Findings The results revealed that attachment styles indirectly affect client’s clinical progress by the path of treatment motivation. Although the current study cannot conclude causality, the results provide empirical evidence suggesting that attachment activates motivation in treatment within the social dynamics of the TC, thus influencing clinical progress. Originality/value From these findings, recommendations for the modification of TCs along with considerations for further research, and socio-political implications are discussed.