Studies of aversive conditioning for alcoholics: A critical review of theory and research methodology.

Davidson, William S.

doi:10.1037/h0037092

Cited by 20 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 43 publications

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“…Electrical aversion conditioning of alcoholics then went into decline until the 1950s and 1960s, when it experienced a bit of a renaissance; however, it never grew enough to constitute a movement. By contrast, chemical aversion, which pairs the sight, taste, and smell of alcoholics' favorite beverages with a nausea-inducing chemical (usually apomorphine) over several conditioning sessions, has been used more widely from the 1940s to the present (Davidson, 1974). Aversive treatments are exceedingly unpleasant and very expensive; as a result, they tend to attract only highly motivated patients.…”

Section: Aversion Conditioningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Substance abuse.

Nathan¹,

Skinstad²

History of Psychotherapy: Continuity and Change (2nd Ed.).

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This chapter traces the development of psychosocial treatments for substance abuse from the 1960s to the present. From an array of techniques and procedures without empirical backing or proven effectiveness in the 1960s, a significant number of empirically supported interventions today have shown substantial effectiveness. THE 1960s: DIVERSE TREATMENTS, UNPROVEN EFFECTIVENESSMost of the individual and group psychotherapy done in the early 1960s with patients with a wide range of diagnoses, including substance abuse and dependence, was broadly based on psychoanalytic principles. To this end, most psychoanalytic psychotherapists believed that alcoholism was an expression of underlying unconscious conflict and that the primary treatment goal was resolution of this unconscious conflict so that the patient no longer needed to drink to deal with the depression, anxiety, and/or psychotic behaviors for which it was responsible.At the same time, many psychotherapists with extensive experience with alcohol-dependent patients believed that they tended not to be good candidates for insight-oriented treatment. Many suffered from long-term cognitive dysfunction, came to treatment intoxicated, and were unmotivated to do anything about their drinking. In truth, for many chronic alcoholics, especially those who were poor and without much in the way of resources, alcohol was one of the few things in their lives that they valued. The minority of alcoholics who actually sought treatment often joined Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), a self-help group founded 30 years earlier that claimed considerable success with alcohol dependence. Although most mental health professionals paid lip service to AA as a way to reach patients unreachable by other means, to each other they expressed the belief that its efficacy was limited to "character disorders" and "psychopaths."The psychosocial treatment accorded individuals with alcohol abuse and dependence in the early 1960s was not all that different from that used in earlier decades. There was rather expensive individual psychoanalytic psychotherapy, generally considered of limited value for more deteriorated alcoholics, albeit of somewhat greater efficacy for individuals whose alcoholism was not yet chronic or associated with cognitive dysfunction. There was group therapy, with 12-step or psychoanalytic foci, of limited value for chronic alcoholics.

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Section: Aversion Conditioningmentioning

confidence: 99%