Alcoholics Anonymous, Alcoholism, Counselling, and Social Work Treatment,
King
B L, Bissell LeC, and O'Brien P,
Health
and Social Work, Vol. 4(4), 181-198, 1979
“The
authors suggest that the misunderstanding by many social workers of
the particular values of Alcoholics Anonymous and the skills of
alcoholism counselors can involve alcoholic patients themselves in
the stress of reconciling diflerent approaches to treatment. They
call upon all who treat alcoholics to build mutual trust and
cooperation on two assumptions basic to all forms of treatment -
that alcoholism is a disease
and abstinence is essential to recovery.
Alcoholics
Anonymous (AA) is a powerful social movement that embodies certain
principles and assumptions about recovery from alcoholism. Although
social workers and other professionals often make use of AA as an
adjunct to treatment, they do not always incorporate its principles
into their work with patients or take the trouble to learn the
differences and similarities in the AA and professional
approaches. This sometimes forces the patient to cope with stresses
of reconciling two basically different helping agents, neither of
whom is fully aware of this conflict. Nevertheless, social workers
who understand what recovery from the disease of alcoholism entails
can learn not only to counsel newly sober alcoholics or those
attempting to become sober, but also to work smoothly with AA. They
can also use the knowledge and skills of social work to enhance and
broaden the recovery effort in important ways.
This
article examines the role of alcoholism counselors in treating
alcoholics and discusses the value of AA in promoting recovery from
alcoholism. It then contrasts both approaches with social work
treatment. It analyzes as well what elements of traditional social
work interventions can become liabilities in treating
the alcoholic patient. The article's purpose is to enable social
workers, alcoholism counselors, and members of Alcoholics Anonymous
to recognize each other's strengths and what all forms of treatment
share and, out of this knowledge, to discover a ground for
cooperation and mutual trust in the treatment of alcoholism.”
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