Treatment of Alcoholism

Abstract

To the Editor.— In a recent commentary (235:2103,1976), Marvin A. Block, MD, deplores the development of a new treatment method in which alcoholic patients can be taught to drink without "slipping into further dependence." Current treatment of alcoholism is far from successful, and its theoretical basis is rather obscure—psychologically and medically. Some established methods tend to injure the patient's self-esteem, and thus contribute to the constellation that causes the symptoms known as alcoholism. The first thing to be sought in a new method of treating this symptom is a way of respecting the patient's personal dignity and attempting to increase his self-respect, which has already been severely damaged by his disease. Dr Block has confused the necessity for respecting the patient's dignity and autonomy with "alcohol as a social necessity." The ways in which the use of alcohol reflects the problem of our society are beyond the scope of this