Adolescents should ideally receive initial treatment in a structured setting, and they should become involved in regularly scheduled counseling for the first 2 years of recovery. The counselor should be familiar with the principles of the 12-step programs like Alcoholics Anonymous, which provide recovering adolescents with structured support and encouragement among a new and highly functioning peer group. Both the formal treatment and self-help efforts should be supportive rather than investigatory. However, professionals should recognize that adolescent patients have serious maturational deficits resulting from the addiction and that these deficits increase the risk of relapse. Thus, they have not acquired certain developmental skills. In addition, they experience a painful loneliness and isolation as a result of being told to avoid the people, places, and things associated with their addiction. To address these problems, professionals should use directive counseling and sometimes cautiously assume a parental role. They should also regard relapse as a hurdle in recovery rather than as a shameful failure.