Although there has been considerable empirical support for the effect of reflection, and specifically reflective activities, within the domain of transformative learning (Ballon & Skinner, 2008; King, 2004; Mezirow, 2012; Roessger, 2014; Taylor, 2017), there is a gap in the literature concerning the value of formal reflective activities when…

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) commonly co-occurs with alcohol dependence (AD) and negatively affects treatment outcomes. Trauma-related negative affect enhances substance craving in laboratory cue-reactivity studies of AD individuals, but the role of positive affect has not been established. In this study, 108 AD treatment-seeking adults…

This study examined partner violence before and in the 1st and 2nd year after behavioral couples therapy (BCT) for 103 married or cohabiting women seeking alcohol dependence treatment and their male partners; it used a demographically matched nonalcoholic comparison sample. The treatment sample received M = 16.7 BCT sessions over 5-6 months.…

The author's son Jeff is a heroin addict. He was not born this way, or maybe he was and the addiction was there, hiding, all through his childhood years. That is the thing with addiction, no one knows the cause. The author has spent a lot of time trying to ferret out the answer to why one of her two sons is an addict and the other is not. She now…

Discusses the problem of drunk driving primarily as a failure in the process of operant conditioning, with the inappropriate behavior of the drunk driver resulting from a profound ignorance of the potentially tragic consequences of his behavior. Concludes most effective way to understand consequences is to witness autopsies of drunk driving…

Assessed degree of alcohol aversion in 60 alcoholics who received emetic alcohol-aversion therapy. Results revealed changes in response to alcoholic, but not to nonalcoholic, flavors, including decreased consumption in taste tests, more negative flavor ratings, overt behavioral indicants of aversion and increased tachycardiac response. (Author/NB)

Data indicated that drinking and other outcome measures were only moderately interrelated in cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses. Outcome at the group level was somewhat better six months after treatment than it was 18 months later. (Author)

The problem drinking continuum was devised to illustrate different kinds of alcohol-related problems, without implying irreversibility, progression, or the presence of a unitary disease. It is one way of conceptualizing alcohol dependencies that has been fruitful in outpatient counseling, residential care, alcohol education, and training programs.…

A former inmate traces his journey from prison student to prison program director and researcher. He describes how postsecondary education in prison changed his ideas and outlook. (SK)

The following behavior modification procedures were studied with hospitalized alcoholics: videotaped self-confrontation of drunken behavior, discrimination training for blood alcohol concentration, aversion training for overconsumption, discriminated avoidance practice, alcohol education, alternatives training, and behavior counseling. Some…

Clients admitted to an alcohol abuse treatment program volunteered for social skills training related to difficult on-the-job situations. Modeling alone and modeling plus focused instruction were employed to improve several target behaviors. Addition of focused instructions greatly enhanced treatment effects. (Author)

These conference proceedings consider the major lines of evidence on the nature and locus of the alcohol-disinhibition link. The first day's papers, commentaries and discussions are centered on physiological and behavioral links; social-psychological research; historical ideas on alcohol, crime, and accidents; and anthropological perspectives on…

The Final Report of the Task Force on Responsible Decisions About Alcohol is comprised of three booklets. Booklet 1 contains a history of the Education Commission of the States (ECS) and the formation of the ECS Task Force on Responsible Decisions About Alcohol. The goals and objectives of the task force are defined as they relate to approaches…

The final report on a project designed to develop a model learning system for alcohol abuse and alcoholism prevention contains format details of four specific programs. Each program is geared to obtain maximum success in reinforcing responsible behavior, to change learner behavior, and to insure effective implementation in a variety of…