Basic knowledge: Interaction with patients addicted to alcohol

By Dirk Schwoon

Subject:
People who work with alcohol addicts and who are keen to adopt an appropriate manner towards these addicts and for themselves will find competent suggestions in this book.

Target audience:
Psychotherapists, psychologists, doctors, alternative psychotherapy practitioners, inpatient carers.

Content:

For anyone involved in social work, interaction with alcohol addicts is part of their daily routine. Even so, many working in this area have a fixed image of the hopeless drinker who denies or trivialises his/her addiction. The social workers first need to break away from this idea before they can get close to the addict and accept them and their illness. The book can help in this process.
Dirk Schwoon not only writes about the effects of alcoholism, the development of alcoholic disease and treatment methods, he also asks for respect towards the addicts. Motivational intervention possibilities are described in great detail, in which the readiness of the patient to undergo treatment and change his/her drinking habits can be decisively promoted.
The process of adapting to work with addictions is relayed by Dirk Schwoon not only with the support of focused current expertise but also with partly unconventional suggestions such as the systematic analysis by the therapist/carer of his/her own potential self-damaging behavioural patterns. To make it clear: Working with alcohol addicts is not only a therapeutic challenge, it is also a chance to continuously change oneself.

Author:

Dirk Schwoon, PD, PhD, graduate psychologist, psychological psychotherapist, former head of outpatients department for the Institute for alcohol and pharmaceutical dependency at the University Clinic Eppendorf, Hamburg.

Original title:

"Basiswissen: Umgang mit alkoholabhängigen Patienten"

Psychiatrie-Verlag, Bonn, 144 Pages, 14.90 EUR.
First published 2004

For further information please contact: Ms Kerstin Zander

The book series “Basic Knowledge” imparts the essential basics of the chosen subject area not only for newcomers but also for experienced therapists and carers working in psychiatry. It is also important to develop a sympathetic attitude towards people with mental disorders. In addition, the books in this series always have the welfare of the people tending the patient in mind to help enhance the satisfaction of their occupation.
The booklets mostly have 144 pages with helpful information on the inside cover. Because of their highly visible recognition factor and the closeness and competence with which they deal with each subject, the series, which now runs to 12 volumes, has achieved the status of a “home library” in German speaking countries.