A community-reinforcement approach to alcoholism

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Abstract

Several theoretical approaches to alcoholism exist. An opérant reinforcement approach was used in the present study to develop a new procedure that rearranged community reinforcers such as the job, family and social relations of the alcoholic such that drinking produced a time-out from a high density of reinforcement. The results showed that the alcoholics who received this Community-Reinforcement counseling drank less, worked more, spent more time with their families and out of institutions than did a matched control group of alcoholics who did not receive these procedures. This new approach appears to be an effective method of reducing alcoholism. An analysis in reinforcement terms is presented of the etiology, epidemiology, and treatment of alcoholism.

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  • Cited by (0)

    This paper is based in part on the first author's dissertation submitted to the Department of Guidance and Educational Psychology, Southern Illinois University. The work was supported by the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Grant MH-17981 from the National Institute of Mental Health. Special appreciation is extended to Bill Anderson, Earl Kiphart, Ken Lawler, John Meskenas and Ernest Sauerbrunn of the Alcoholic Treatment Program Staff of Anna State Hospital.

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