Psychosomatic Medicine 28:627-635 (1966)
© 1966 American Psychosomatic Society

Methodological Models for the Study of Drugs in the Treatment of Alcoholism

¹ Veterans Administration Hospital, Brockton, Mass.

It is evident that an individual's response to drug therapy is not a simple and invariant reaction to the drug's purely pharmacological properties but rather is influenced by a variety of psychological and social forces operating in the treatment setting. These nonspecific psychosocial influences are particularly important in the drug treatment of alcoholism because of the unique attitudes and feelings held towards the alcoholic by society. Alcoholism--probably more than any other illness--evokes irrational attitudes and behaviors from professional people. Many treatment personnel carry these negative feelings into the hospital and clinic where they prejudge the alcoholic patient as unworthy and undeserving. The prevailing negative treatment bias makes drug therapy with alcoholics increasingly difficult and complex. This paper reviews the various nonspecific influences which are of importance in evaluating drug effects in the treatment of alcoholism. It provides a conceptual frame of reference to organize these psychosocial variables and cites illustrative studies that demonstrate their importance.