The problem of alcoholism & AA

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The problem of alcoholism is viewed as a major social problem, one that has an impact not only on the individual affected and not only on his or her family but on society as a whole. Alcoholism has been examined from a number of different perspectives in an attempt to explain its etiology or its consequences. The prevailing perspective is the medical model, which holds that alcoholism is a disease, which also means that it can be treated through medical means. Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an organization that makes use of a theory of self-help to enable alcoholics to take control of their own lives and to learn to change their behavior, following a disease theory of alcoholism. Alcoholics Anonymous stands outside the medical model in that it does not offer a "cure" and indeed holds that the individual will always be an alcoholic. What the alcoholic can be is an alcoholic who does not drink. AA addresses the behavior by means of a Twelve Step program and is deemed an intervention rather than a treatment. An analysis of the AA program will show how it differs from other therapeutic models and how it might be modified by the use of other theories applicable to the group treatment setting, such as the SYMLOG system of Bales and Cohen (1979).

Alcoholics Anonymous came into being in 1935 based on agreement between founder Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob of Akron, Ohio as to AA's working definition of alcoholism as an allergy plus an obsession

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alytic reviews and independent surveys of the outcome literature consistently support the generalization that group psychotherapy is indeed an effective form of treatment intervention (Dies, 2). EMPIRICAL STUDIES Cahalan (1988) states that the disease model of alcoholism has had both positive and negative effects upon not only the treatment of alcoholism, but also on the quality and economics of medical care. He also takes a historical perspective and discusses the medicalization of deviance, noting how prevention programs have been neglected under this model. He proposes the reinforcement (or addictive) model as an alternative to dealing with alcohol problems, noting as well the possibility of bridges between Alcoholics Anonymousoriented and reinforcementoriented therapies. He suggests a compromise that assumes that alternative treatments would coexist with the disease model for an indefinite time, though the trend would be toward implementation of models that might be called deviance models or sociological models (Cahalan, 1988, 49-68). An examination of the literature in the Quarterly Journal of Studies on Alcohol through the decade from 1960 to 1970 shows a number of themes and issues repeated and re-examined by d
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Twelve Traditions, Bales Cohen, Vanderhoof Campbell, Studies Alcohol, Greenberg Barrett, TREATMENTS Ormont, Montgomery Little, TRADITIONS AA's, Wright Gould, AA Robertson, alcoholics anonymous, twelve traditions, twelve steps, symlog system, cohen 1979, twelve steps twelve, steps twelve, bales cohen, robertson 1988, bill wilson, steps twelve traditions, bales cohen 1979, medical model, greenberg barrett 1978, glaser greenberg barrett,
Approximate Word count = 4770
Approximate Pages = 19 (250 words per page)

The problem of alcoholism & AA

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