Group-analytic treatment for alcoholics gives an opportunity to observe and to work through many different aspects of the addictive personality. Such a method of working was described by Fernando Arroyave as the `resolution of anything complex into its simple elements'. One element that we observed was not only the extent to which the patients talked about drink, but also the way in which they treated life and each other as `bottles'. This is hardly surprising since the bottle is the foremost thing in their lives.
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References
1.
Arroyave, F.
(1984) `Group Analytic Treatment of Drinking Problems', in T.E. Lear (ed.) Spheres of Group Analysis, pp 109-118. London: Group Analytic Society.
2.
Knauss, Werner
and Freund, Herman (1985) `Group-Analytic Psychotherapy with Alcoholic Inpatients', Group AnalysisXVIII (2): 124-130. Discussion by Fernando Arroyave, p. 131.
3.
Wilson, Michael
(1971) The Hospital - A Place of Truth. Birmingham: University of Birmingham.
