Alcoholism Treatment And Rehabilitation

The present volume contains a large variety of treatment approaches to the long-term rehabilitation of the alcoholic, ranging from the biological to the physiological to the psychological to the social. The multiplicity of proposed therapies, each of which has its strong proponents, suggests that alcoholism is either a complex medical-social disease syndrome requiring a multipronged treatment approach or a very simple illness for which we have not yet dis covered the remedy. The latter may, indeed, be true, but we cannot use what we do not know and must use what we do know. We do, however, have the obligation to be responsible in our treatment, to provide the best that is known at this time, and to be discriminating in our prescription of appropriate treat ment for individual patients. If there is one conclusion we would like to offer in our preface, it is that alcoholics constitute a markedly heterogeneous popula tion with widely disparate needs, for whom, at least at our present level of knowledge, a broad spectrum of treatment modalities is necessary. If this is true, then probably most of this book has validity. With this volume on the treatment and rehabilitation of the chronic alco holic, we bring to completion our five-volume series, The Biology of Alcoholism. As the title of the present volume indicates, we have departed from our original intention to deal solely with biological aspects of the syndrome and have attempted rather to produce a more comprehensive work.

In this congressionally mandated study, an expert committee of the Institute of Medicine takes a close look at where treatment for people with alcohol problems seems to be headed, and provides its best advice on how to get there. Careful consideration is given to how the creative growth of treatment can best be encouraged while keeping costs within reasonable limits. Particular attention is devoted to the importance of developing therapeutic approaches that are sensitive to the special needs of the many diverse groups represented among those who have developed problems related to their use of "man's oldest friend and oldest enemy." This book is the most comprehensive examination of alcohol treatment to date.

438 references to worldwide literature published from 1960 to Sept., 1971 (but mostly from 1964). Materials selected to show broad range of treatment modalities, treatment and rehabilitation programs, and innovative techniques and methods. Classified arrangement. Foreign-language titles also given in original. Author index, Subject index.

An essential guide to finding the right recovery program from the New York Times–bestselling author of Sober for Good Drawing on extensive research, including visits to fifteen addiction treatment programs and interviews with more than two hundred clients and professionals in the field, trusted health and medical writer Anne M. Fletcher offers indispensable advice for people seeking quality care for themselves or a loved one. She reveals the ways in which our addiction treatment industry is broken, highlights what is working, and shares insights about how the experience could be more effective. Fletcher sheds light on the science-based practices that should form the basis of treatment, spotlights programs and professionals using those practices, and provides a much-needed guide to different types of treatment and finding quality care when it’s needed.