William Fals-Stewart, assistant professor of psychology, next month will submit what he hopes will be another million-dollar grant for his research on behavioral couples therapy.

The group headed by Fals-Stewart last year received a $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Mental Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse. The new grant, to be submitted next month to the two organizations, also examines couples therapy.

Fals-Stewart, who joined the Old Dominion faculty in 1997, has done extensive research on drug and alcohol abuse. The most recent grant of $2 million over a five-year period is one of the largest ever for the psychology department and Old Dominion.

The grant supports Fals-Stewart and Tim O'Farrell of Harvard University, as well as two other investigators, three Old Dominion students and six other researchers at locations across the country.

The research group, headed by Fals-Stewart and O'Farrell, has received substantial support from the federal government. It says, in effect, "We think what you do is important," Fals-Stewart stated recently.

His studies, which date back to 1984 at a research facility affiliated with Cornell University, have found that patients who get couples-based treatment for substance abuse see better results than those who go it alone.

Instances of spousal violence decrease and the treatments are more cost-effective because one member of the couple serves as a surrogate therapist, Fals-Stewart said.