This article discusses the problem of alcoholism in the profession of psychology. Alcoholism, a major health problem currently being addressed by other professions, has unique features,, manifestations, and ramifications for psychologists. Salient aspects of alcoholism in psychology include etiological and motivational factors, characteristic behaviors, and specific risk factors in the work environment of psychologists. Alcoholism, conceptualized as a deeply embedded permanent addiction not resolvable by conscious, planned effort, constitutes a special dilemma for psychologists who hold a strong belief in the powers of the mind and in the capacity to comprehend and alter behavior. Current efforts to effectively and humanely deal with alcoholism within the professions, modeled on the self-help principles of Alcoholics Anonymous in combination with professional treatment, are examined, including the present efforts in psychology to deal with distressed psychologists. An advocacy role for the American Psychological Association to assist in the development of a peer-collaborative network for psychologists in recovery is suggested. Further implications and recommendations are offered.

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The authors interviewed abstinent alcoholic psychologists with a structured interview previously used in studies of other alcoholic professionals. Histories and experiences of the psychologists closely resembled those of other professionals. Like the other professionals, psychologists had exhibited relatively advanced, visible signs of alcoholism, but professional sanctions were rare and almost never combined with effective intervention. Although a majority had received professional treatment, the treatment was usually inappropriate or ineffective. Most Ss had recovered or attained sobriety outside of formal intervention programs or professional therapy or treatment. Recovery depended excessively on happenstance events and self-diagnosis.

Models of Alcoholismhe term alcoholism has idiosyncratic connotations and usually means what the user chooses it to mean. Much disagreement and controversy abound regarding what constitutes alcoholism. On the one hand, no one T quarrels with the fact that alcohol abuse, be it a disease, a bad habit, or a culturally induced behavior pattern, carries with it a multitude of medical, familial, social, and work problems that dwarf those of any other so-called disease in our society (Vaillant, 1983). On the other hand, alcohol misuse comes in so many guises with so many variations in form and symptoms that fitting all of these manifestations into a well-delineated disease model seems impossible (Jacobson, 1976;Pattison & Kaufman, 1982;Peele, 1984).Throughout the ages, using alcohol as a means of altering consciousness has had an extraordinary appeal to humankind. This simultaneous fascination with and dread of alcohol was depicted by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. (1918), who suggested that there is in all of us "a demand for the superlative, so much so that the poor devil who has no other way of reaching it attains it by getting drunk' (p. 40). Weil(1972), in studying the universal use of chemical agents to induce alterations in consciousness, concluded that the desire to alter consciousness is an innate, normal drive analogous to hunger or the sexual drive. He emphasized that drugs are but one way of satisfying this drive; many others exist. Glasser (1976) coined the term "positive addiction" to define the attempt to refocus negative addictive behaviors into positive, mind-altering addictions, for example, running and meditating. The classification of alcohol misuse as a moral failing, a bad habit, or a disease has been the subject of major attention over the past 20 years. Fortunately, the view that alcoholism is a moral problem has, in part, been rejected. Yet the skepticism that is attached to selfinflicted diseases remains.The scientifidtreatment community has tended to take either of two major positions on this issue. Those on the social science side tend to prefer

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