Determining the Extent of Drinking Problems
Determining Extent of Drinking Problem and Alcoholic's Willingness to Admit the Problem-The Initial Steps in Treatment Planning
It is not necessarily useful simply to ask how much a person drinks, because the response is likely to be vague and may be influenced by denial. One of the best ways of determining the extent of denial of the symptoms is a series of questions that can be addressed to alcoholics.
Some helpful questions about drinking problems or habits are the following:
Do you sometimes drink heavily after a disappointment or quarrel?
Do you always drink more heavily when you feel under pressure?
Are you drinking more often without eating?
Do you try to sneak in extra drinks on social occasions?
Have you attempted various ways to control your drinking?
Have you failed to keep promises to yourself to cut down?
Do you avoid your family and close friends while drinking?
Useful questions about feelings include:
Do you feel guilty about your drinking?
Do you want to go on drinking when your friends have had enough?
Do you often regret what you have said or done while drinking?
Do you feel uncomfortable if alcohol is not available in certain situations?
Are you annoyed by the way others talk about your drinking?
If friends or family members can be interviewed
these are questions that might be addressed to them:
Does this person's drinking ever worry or embarrass you?
Does it spoil family holidays?
Does it create a tense atmosphere?
Do you lie to conceal it?
Does he or she try to justify the drinking or avoid discussion of it?
Do you or your children fear physical or verbal
assault from this person when he or she is drinking?
Does this person become remorseful and apologize after a drinking episode?
Do others talk about this person's drinking?
Cognitive Factors in Food and Alcohol Addiction
Behavior is influenced by expectation s about
the consequences of behaving in a particular way as well as by
what actually does happen~(Wilson, 1987).
Behavior thus can be shaped and maintained by
cognitive appraisals of what has
happened and what is likely to happen.
A problem drinker or food addict learns to expect
positive effects from drinking or eating and interprets
the experience in that way, despite the fact that the
predominant quality of the actual experiences are negative.
The importance of expectancy is illustrated by an
experiment reported by Marlatt and others (1973) .
These investigators used a taste-rating task to determine
whether drinking rates are affected by the actual presence
of alcohol or merely by the expectancy of alcohol.
The taste-rating task was an unobtrusive measure of
drinking because the person's attention was focused
on the taste of the drinks . The drinks used were vodka and
tonic, and tonic alone. The subjects were permitted to
drink as much of the beverages as they wished in the
time allotted.
The researchers found that the only significant
determinant of the amount of alcohol consumed
was the subjects' expectations regarding what they were
drinking; those who expected alcohol drank more. This
finding supports a cognitive interpretation of drinking.
(Later in the chapter we discuss the applications of this
cognitive perspective to therapy for problem drinkers
and shows a naturalistic setting for experiments
on drinking behavior.
Here is evidence that a person's belief about the
alcohol content of a drink, regardless of its actual content,
can be a significant determiner not only of alcohol
consumption but also of various behaviors that may
accompany or result from drinking such as depression ,
delay of gratification, social anxiety, and sexual responsiveness
in me evidence comes from studies using the ‘balanced ace’
which half of the subjects are given a drink
containing alcohol and half are given a non-alcohol beverage.
By varying Offer- content all expectancy set,
is designed to permit joint and separate
evaluation of the behavioral consequences of a subject's
belief that he or she has consumed alcohol and the
on sequences of actual alcohol consumption.
It is not necessarily useful simply to ask how much a person drinks, because the response is likely to be vague and may be influenced by denial. One of the best ways of determining the extent of denial of the symptoms is a series of questions that can be addressed to alcoholics.
Some helpful questions about drinking problems or habits are the following:
Do you sometimes drink heavily after a disappointment or quarrel?
Do you always drink more heavily when you feel under pressure?
Are you drinking more often without eating?
Do you try to sneak in extra drinks on social occasions?
Have you attempted various ways to control your drinking?
Have you failed to keep promises to yourself to cut down?
Do you avoid your family and close friends while drinking?
Useful questions about feelings include:
Do you feel guilty about your drinking?
Do you want to go on drinking when your friends have had enough?
Do you often regret what you have said or done while drinking?
Do you feel uncomfortable if alcohol is not available in certain situations?
Are you annoyed by the way others talk about your drinking?
If friends or family members can be interviewed
these are questions that might be addressed to them:
Does this person's drinking ever worry or embarrass you?
Does it spoil family holidays?
Does it create a tense atmosphere?
Do you lie to conceal it?
Does he or she try to justify the drinking or avoid discussion of it?
Do you or your children fear physical or verbal
assault from this person when he or she is drinking?
Does this person become remorseful and apologize after a drinking episode?
Do others talk about this person's drinking?
Cognitive Factors in Food and Alcohol Addiction
Behavior is influenced by expectation s about
the consequences of behaving in a particular way as well as by
what actually does happen~(Wilson, 1987).
Behavior thus can be shaped and maintained by
cognitive appraisals of what has
happened and what is likely to happen.
A problem drinker or food addict learns to expect
positive effects from drinking or eating and interprets
the experience in that way, despite the fact that the
predominant quality of the actual experiences are negative.
The importance of expectancy is illustrated by an
experiment reported by Marlatt and others (1973) .
These investigators used a taste-rating task to determine
whether drinking rates are affected by the actual presence
of alcohol or merely by the expectancy of alcohol.
The taste-rating task was an unobtrusive measure of
drinking because the person's attention was focused
on the taste of the drinks . The drinks used were vodka and
tonic, and tonic alone. The subjects were permitted to
drink as much of the beverages as they wished in the
time allotted.
The researchers found that the only significant
determinant of the amount of alcohol consumed
was the subjects' expectations regarding what they were
drinking; those who expected alcohol drank more. This
finding supports a cognitive interpretation of drinking.
(Later in the chapter we discuss the applications of this
cognitive perspective to therapy for problem drinkers
and shows a naturalistic setting for experiments
on drinking behavior.
Here is evidence that a person's belief about the
alcohol content of a drink, regardless of its actual content,
can be a significant determiner not only of alcohol
consumption but also of various behaviors that may
accompany or result from drinking such as depression ,
delay of gratification, social anxiety, and sexual responsiveness
in me evidence comes from studies using the ‘balanced ace’
which half of the subjects are given a drink
containing alcohol and half are given a non-alcohol beverage.
By varying Offer- content all expectancy set,
is designed to permit joint and separate
evaluation of the behavioral consequences of a subject's
belief that he or she has consumed alcohol and the
on sequences of actual alcohol consumption.