Psychological Treatments For Alcoholism

In this article, we will give you a description of several effective psychological treatments for alcoholism. The two main groups focus on abstinence or controlled drinking and the treatment chosen depends on the type of patient.

Most psychological treatments for alcoholism are based on the cognitive behavioral model. This model treats this agent as a powerful reinforcement mechanism that maintains the habit of using it for self-treatment.

The cognitive-behavioral model offers an alternative approach to the traditional model, which assumes that alcoholism is a disease.

The ultimate goal of these psychological treatments for alcoholism is to reduce the need to drink alcohol. At the same time, the treatments try to increase interest in other activities, allowing people to continue to function well in the long term.

Depending on the patient, the patient’s personal resources and the family environment, another objective may be to teach him or her to stop their problematic alcohol use. Experts call this “controlled drinking.”

Currently, among the psychological treatments for alcohol, we find two modes of intervention for intervention. One focuses on achieving complete abstinence. The other focuses on drinking alcohol in a safe and responsible manner. We will describe both of these schools below.

A man looks at an almost empty glass of alcohol

Psychological treatments for alcoholism that target abstinence

Social skills or self-control training

Experts mainly use this for patients who do not have sufficient interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. It is also a good way to help people who cannot control their emotional state without alcohol.

Experts have found that drinkers consume less alcohol in stressful social situations if they have an alternative strategy for dealing with problems.

An example of this is the handbook by Monti et. al (2002). This book provides social strategies for both the patient and their support group. These allow the patient to avoid the urge to drink alcohol.

Addressing community as one of the treatments for alcoholism

This approach attempts to change the lifestyle associated with alcohol consumption. This includes techniques such as problem solving, family behavior therapy, social counseling and job search training. You can also use this approach with controlled drinking.

Behavioral Therapy for Relationships

This means going beyond using alcohol as a reinforcement mechanism and aiming for abstinence. The goal of this therapy is for a couple to learn to do fun things together. These are preferably activities where no alcohol is consumed.

aversion therapy

The goal of this therapy is to reduce or completely eliminate the desire for alcohol. Therapists who use aversion therapy use different stimuli or images. They use these to condition a negative response to alcohol’s characteristics (e.g., its color or odor).

Experts can use various negative incentives. These range from the classic electric shock, which Kantarovich used in 1929, to chemical aids or even just visualization.

An example of this treatment is the hidden conditioning, which Cautela proposed in 1970. Eight sessions of this treatment are usually enough to see results.

Preventing a relapse

The best known treatment for this purpose is that of Marlatt and Gordon. They place most of the responsibility on the patient, as the only person responsible for changing their behavior. By extension, the patient is also responsible for maintaining that change once they have achieved it.

When preventing a relapse, it should be borne in mind that strategies for dealing with the problem should be stronger in high-risk situations.

Treatments for alcoholism that target controlled drinking

Experts choose this approach when the person in question does not want to completely stop drinking because he or she has no physical problems. The most representative program of this group is that of Sobell and Sobell.

The Sobell and Sobell program aims to lead problem drinkers away from a chronic drinking problem. Its basis is the teaching of self-control skills, as the aim is to use only a brief intervention.

During this intervention, the person must put into practice many of the strategies that the therapist teaches him or her. These drinkers are generally young. highly educated people. They are often employed and have few severe withdrawal symptoms. Most of them abuse alcohol for a period of five to ten years.

In terms of social and economic resources, they are not much different from the rest of the population. That means they are in a good position to make important changes in their lives without too many obstacles.

A man with many beer bottles on the table

The Sobell and Sobell program lasts four weeks and is carried out by the expert outpatient. The work that the patient does in the clinic is not very intensive, but it involves a lot of homework. Ultimately, it tries to let patients make the change themselves.

Guidelines of the Sobell and Sobell program

These are some of the suggestions of this program:

Do not consume more than three units of alcohol per day and do not drink more than three days per week. If you follow this rule, your tolerance for alcohol will be lower.
In addition, you should never drink again in risky situations and you should not drink more than one drink per hour.
There should be at least 20 minutes between the moment you decide to start drinking and the moment you actually drink alcohol.

Training in problem solving and prevention of relapse are very important in this program. This will help the patient to recognize situations in his life that are related to alcohol use. They can then use the strategies they have learned to deal with these situations.

Conclusion

For both types of treatment for alcoholism that we discuss here, the ultimate goal is for the patient to learn alternative coping strategies. These strategies should serve to curb the urge to drink alcohol.

This can be as simple as learning to say “no” to people who make the person drink. Another example is learning new ways to solve the problems the alcoholic struggles with.

The goal is to break free from the addiction and take a new path. It is true that the process can be tedious. However, with focus you can handle any problem that arises.

Today, psychological therapies for alcoholism are extremely important, especially those that focus on controlled drinking. This is because there has been a huge increase in the number of young people who are turning to alcohol as a way of coping with their problems and emotions.

A major goal of these therapies and strategies is to stop these young people before they become pathological drinkers. Instead, it is much better for them to learn to live their lives without alcohol.