Although efficacious couple and family treatments for AUD have been developed and tested, knowledge regarding behavioral mechanisms of action underlying treatment response largely remains untested. It is possible that both individual and relational mechanisms specific to family and couple interactions might facilitate improved treatment outcomes, maintenance of recovery programs and sobriety, and long-term health. Thus, studies examining the mechanisms of action underlying effective couple and family treatments for AUD—as well as secondary analyses of extant data sets and studies combining data sets from multiple randomized controlled trials—are warranted. One avenue to addressing this gap in the literature is the use of observational coding schemes to examine within-session behaviors indicative of treatment response. A recent study examined the association between pronoun utilization (i.e., “I” versus “we”) within ABCT sessions and found that greater “we” language utilization was associated with greater alcohol abstinence at end of treatment and follow-up.102 Recent analyses based on coding of within-session language in ABCT sessions have found that contemptuousness by individuals with AUD toward their partners predicts poorer drinking outcomes103 and that within an ABCT treatment session
