Treating the Unmotivated Alcoholic

Abstract

A cooperative program conducted by the Cincinnati Municipal Court and the Alcoholism Clinic at Cincinnati General Hospital attempts to provide rehabilitation and treatment for so-called "untreatable" and "unmotivated" defendants placed on proba tion for drinking offenses. Judges refer offenders for evaluation by a psychiatric team composed of personnel from the Court's Psychiatric Clinic, who screen candidates for the probation-alco holism clinic regimen on the basis of ego strength, level of anxiety or shame, response to authority or conscience, and will ingness to accept help. Close liaison between probation officers and psychiatrists helps to set limits for the alcoholic probationer and provide him with ego-building support; it encourages latent motivation for improvement of his social functioning and enables him to deal with day-to-day frustrations. In addition, therapists at the Alcoholism Clinic provide the probationer with the oppor tunity for individual and group psychotherapy, brief therapeutic contact with medication, and collateral counseling of spouses by caseworkers.