Social Therapy for a Social Disorder-Compulsive Drinking,
Bales
RF, Journal
Of Social Issues, Vol. 1 (3). 14-22, 1945
“Most
compulsive drinkers do not like the idea of re-education as
an expression of what they are supposed to need. It implies that they
are mis-educated or uneducated, and that some academic authority
now proposes to enlighten them about the disadvantages of their
drinking behavior. This they resent. With few exceptions, alcoholics
are perfectly aware of the unhappiness and pain which drinking brings
to them and their families. Their dilemma consists precisely in the
fact that no amount of such knowledge seems to help. Somehow the
craving always wins out. Knowledge of consequences does not stop the
craving.”
