The effect of an aerobic exercise program on the anxiety levels of recovering alcoholics was studied. Two groups of 25 volunteers each, from 3 alcoholism/rehabilitation programs in New Jersey, were assigned to control and experimental groups. Both groups received pre- and post-tests of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. The control…

This study evaluated whether alcoholics who receive relapse prevention (RP) sessions in the year after a short-term behavioral marital therapy (BMT) do better at long-term follow-up than do those not receiving the additional RP. Sixty couples with an alcoholic husband, after participating in 10 weekly BMT couples group sessions, were assigned…

The Gerontology Alcohol Project, a treatment/research program investigating the characteristics of the late-life onset elderly alcohol abuser, was used as a model for a new program which emphasized teaching the elderly abusers how to break down their personal drinking behavior chain and deal with the antecedents of drinking behavior, to use…

Research in the field of alcohol abuse evidences a long history of attempts to predict outcome from alcohol treatment programs using situational and intrapsychic factors. To investigate whether alcohol reinforcement expectancies are related to drinking behavior, 42 male veteran graduates of an inpatient alcohol treatment program were interviewed 1…

Alcohol abuse results in a variety of problems including employment difficulties and family problems. This study integrates a family systems model of alcoholism with a family crisis model for recovery to study spouses of alcoholics and their perceptions of family stress, coping styles, and quality of marriage. Participants (N=60) were husbands or…

Alcohol abuse imposes financial, social, and emotional burdens on drinkers and their families. Couples suffering from alcohol-related problems who seek therapy often have expectations of retribution, restitution, and refuge. Although thoughts of retribution are difficult to elicit in therapy, non-drinking spouses often expect to inflict pain on…

To investigate whether men and women think alike about drinking and the effects of alcohol, the Alcohol Expectancy Questionnaire was administered to 440 college students, 120 medical patients, and 305 alcoholics in residential treatment. Previous and current drinking patterns and background information were also examined. Subjects were grouped by…

Many alcohol treatment programs have stressed a sense of belongingness as a means for successful treatment of alcoholics in a residential setting. An examination of the effectiveness of this strategy in highly structured and less structured programs involved 200 chronic, recidivistic male adult alcoholics in a residential program. Subjects were…

Research has consistently shown that among the non-institutionalized elderly, prevalence rates of heavy alcohol use and problem drinking are relatively small in comparison to younger age groups. This study examines how maximum annual alcohol consumption and problem drinking change as a concomitant of the aging process. This study of alcohol-use…

Two types of elderly alcohol abusers are described. Early onset or long-term alcohol abusers are abusers with long-standing behavioral problems considered well known to the social service delivery system. Late-life onset elderly alcohol abusers are those whose drinking problems began in the later years, after age 50, often in response to stresses…

This study examined the link between alcohol use and domestic violence in the American Indian population. A total of 204 American Indian families and 2,007 non-American Indian Whites were analyzed using the 1985 National Family Violence Resurvey. The rates of family violence were first calculated by ethnicity, and then compared to a sample of…

The Conflict Tactics Scale questionnaire on marital violence was administered to 29 alcoholics and their wives at entry to, and 1 year after, completing a behavioral marital therapy (BMT) treatment program. In the year prior to BMT, prevalence rates of any violent act, of minor to moderate violent acts, and of severe violent acts were five to six…

This document contains 10 papers from the ninth World Conference of Therapeutic Communities (TC) that deal with a variety of health-related subjects. Papers include: (1) "AIDS among IV Drug Users: Epidemiology, Natural History & TC Experiences" (Don C. Des Jarlais, et al.); (2) "AIDS and Therapeutic Communities: Policy Implications" (Don C. Des…

Because it is often assumed that some similarity in background helps to enhance empathy, recovering alcoholics are sometimes encouraged to become counselors. Theoretically, the recovered alcoholic's drinking history gives him something in common with his alcoholic clients, thus enhancing the therapist's empathic posture. Detoxified clients (N=42)…

The matching hypothesis, presented in this study, predicts that designing treatment according to patient characteristics leads to better outcomes. A study was conducted to collect data on current practices of patient-treatment matching in alcohol treatment. A questionnaire was completed by 70 directors of Veterans Administration inpatient alcohol…