"The purpose of this study was to determine, if possible, whether there was any significant change in the 'social consequences' experienced by thirty-one alcoholic patients during the first six months they are in treatment as compared to the six months immediately prior to their entering treatment. The 'significant change' was determined on the basis of the 'social consequences' they suffered as a result of their relapse into compulsive drinking, and the difference 'before' and 'during' was tested by the chi square test for the significance of the difference"--Introduction. / Typescript. / "June, 1959." / "Submitted to the Graduate Council of Florida State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Social Work." / Advisor: Dorothy D. Hayes, Professor Directing Study. / Includes bibliographical references.

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M.A. (Psychology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationships of client pretreatment characteristics to treatment outcome (measured in terms of alcohol drinking behaviour 1 year after treatment) of 141 male alcoholics admitted to an alcoholism treatment center in British Columbia during the past 3 years. Data gathered prior to treatment included: (a) Demographic data: (i) Age, (ii) Level of Education, (iii) Marital Status; (b) Psychological test data: (i) Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, (ii) Edwards Personal Preference Schedule, (iii) Sixteen Personality Factors Questionnaire, (iv) Alcohol Addiction Test, (v) Shipley-Institute of Living Scale; and (c) Duration of Treatment data. The outcome classifications (successes and failures) were based on information from letters, cards, and phone calls made by former clients to their counsellors during the criterion time-period, as well as through return visits made by clients to confirm sobriety, and finally through employer and grapevine reports. The t-test for significance of differences between means was conducted on the variables, Age, Level of Education, and Duration of Treatment, while the Chi-square test of independence was conducted on the variable Marital Status. The psychological test data were put into proportional form with an ArcSin transformation, so that the unique amounts of variance contributed by each variable to the total.could be properly compared. Discriminant analysis in two steps was then performed on the psychological test data, seeking to discover those variables which contributed significantly to discrimination between the outcome groups in a predictive sense. The variables chosen by the discriminant process were then correlated among one another in order to illustrate the nature of relationships of each scale (variable) to the others. Results showed that there were no statistically significant differences for any of the demographic variables, and similarly for the 'duration of treatment' variable. However, the discriminant analysis procedures revealed four psychological variables (scales) that maximally discriminated between outcome groups, and when considered together, explained 19% of the total variance on the criterion measure, and correctly classified 68.1% of the cases. These four variables were scales 'PA' (Paranoia), 'MA' (Hypomania), and 'SI' (Social Introversion) from the MMPI, and scale 'N' (Forthright vs. Shrewd) from the 16 PF. Correlations among these scales revealed a low, with definite but small relationship between scales 'MA' and 'PA' (r =0.37, p < .001), 'PA' and 'SA' (r = 0.30, p < .001), and a slight, almost negligible relationship between scales 'MA' and 'N' (r = -0.16, p < .026). Correlations between 'MA' and 'SI', 'SI' and 'N', and 'N' and 'PA' were not significant. / Education, Faculty of / Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education (ECPS), Department of / Graduate

Many-psychotherapists feel that the capacity to risk is a necessary ingredient for change. Whether that change occur in a person seen in a professional context or in a person who views new behavior as being more rewarding, risk and change go hand in hand. Coleman (1972) described this relationship in the following way: Life often poses problems in which the pursuit of increased satisfactions involves giving up present hard-won security and taking new risks. For the neurotic, this is likely to prove an especially anxiety-arousing conflictful situation [p. 226]. Why should this be true? It seems that one of the major ways we keep ourselves from risking is by requiring knowledge of what is going to happen before we will try something new. Polster and Polster (1972) state: For most people the need to be able to predict the results of their actions prevents them from easily reaching beyond the existing forms of behavior where the greatest opportunities are present. If they venture into unfamiliar territory, while they might gain an increased sense of excitement and power, they might lose their easy understanding and feel unprepared and alien [p. 148]. Another force which makes risking, for change, a difficult process is the fear of knowledge of oneself. Part of our energy is directed towards maintaining and protecting was conducted by dividing the sample into two groups defined by attendance at the out-patient clinics. It was hypothesized that subjects attending the out-patient clinics would show larger changes in the direction of increased risk taking between pre and post-program testing conditions, and that their scores would be lower numerically, indicating a greater willingness to take risks. Change in the direction of increased risk taking was found to be the major predictor of attendance at the outpatient clinics. Absolute willingness to risk, as measured by the questionnaire was not found to be significantly different between the two groups.

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The treatment of alcoholism has had a unique historical development in the United States. This study provides a chronology of how the problem of alcoholism was defined and handled during various time periods in United States history. The process that evolved resulted in an abstinence based, comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of alcoholism as a primary disease based on the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. This treatment modality, that developed outside of established medicine, is currently used by the majority of treatment providers. Seven individuals who have been actively involved in alcoholism treatment were interviewed. In addition to archival research, biographies and autobiographies were examined to gain a broad perspective. Because alcoholism is both a collective and an individual problem an effort was made to include a microsociological frame of reference within a broad sociological view. Alcoholism, or inebriety, was first perceived as a legal and moral problem. By the end of the 19th century, inebriety was recognized as an illness differing from mental illness, and separate asylums were established for its treatment. Alcoholism is currently accepted and treated as a primary disease by the majority of social institutions, but the legal and moral implications remain. National Prohibition in the early part of the 20th century targeted alcohol instead of the alcoholic delaying any progress toward treatment which was made in the 19th century. The advent of Alcoholics Anonymous brought the first widely accepted hope for alcoholics. The treatment process that developed utilized the principles of Alcoholics Anonymous in a setting of shared recovery which has been difficult to quantify. In 1970 the allocation of federal funds for treatment and research brought the involvement of new disciplines creating both conflicts and possibilities. Alcoholism recovery has elucidated the connection of mind, body, and spirit.

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