Alcohol:
Types of Psychotherapy to Treat Alcoholism
Transcript:
Guest: Dr.
Sarah Book – Psychiatry
& Behavioral Sciences
Host: Dr.
Linda Austin – Psychiatry
Dr. Linda Austin:
I’m Dr. Linda Austin. I’m
interviewing Dr. Sarah Book, Psychiatrist, Center for Drug and Alcohol Programs. Dr. Book, when somebody with an alcohol
problem comes for treatment, what should they expect?
Dr. Sarah Book:
There are lots of different types of alcohol treatments. In our program, at the medical university, we
use essentially three different types of psychotherapies that I think are
representative of therapies that people would receive at different centers.
Dr. Linda Austin:
Let’s take them one by one. What
are those types?
Dr. Sarah Book:
The first kind of therapy we use is cognitive-behavioral therapy, where
a therapist helps an individual look at the thoughts that go into their
behavior of drinking and how the alcohol actually changes the thoughts, or how
thoughts themselves might lead to alcohol use, and also how individual’s
emotions get involved with alcohol use, and helps an individual to kind of look
at that as a cycle and figure out a way to break that cycle.
Dr. Linda Austin:
So it really is an exploration of one’s thoughts and the thought
patterns, how one thing leads to another?
Dr. Sarah Book:
That’s exactly right.
Dr. Linda Austin:
So it might be, for example, I would say to you, “Gee, I get stressed
and I reach for a glass of wine”?
Dr. Sarah Book:
Right.
Dr. Linda Austin:
And then you say?
Dr. Sarah Book:
“What are other alternative behaviors that you could engage in for that
stress?” Also, we would say, “Let’s look
at the effect of having that drink has on your stress, both the short term
effect as well as the long term effect.”
Dr. Linda Austin:
Dr. Book, what is the second form of psychological treatment?
Dr. Sarah Book:
We also offer a type of therapy called Motivational Enhancement
Therapy. You know, Linda, not everyone
who comes into treatment for alcoholism is really ready. They may be coming into treatment because
somebody else wants them to come to treatment.
So we use this type of therapy which essentially helps to enhance an
individual’s motivation to participate in treatment.
Dr. Linda Austin:
What about the third form of therapy?
Dr. Sarah Book:
The third type of therapy is something that our listeners are probably
more familiar with, which is what we call Twelve Step Facilitation Therapy,
which is a type of therapy that starts to introduce individuals to Alcoholics
Anonymous and the twelve steps that are used in AA.
Dr. Linda Austin:
So then, can you do AA, participate in AA, and participate in
cognitive-behavioral therapy?
Dr. Sarah Book:
Absolutely.
Dr. Linda Austin:
Is that typical?
Dr. Sarah Book:
We encourage that.
Dr. Linda Austin:
And can you do those two things and use a medication, such as Rivea or
Campral?
Dr. Sarah Book:
Yes, you definitely can. And that
is the treatment setting in which those medications have been shown to be
effective.
Dr. Linda Austin:
What is the role of the family in treatment?
Dr. Sarah Book:
In our program, and again, our program is going to be similar to other
programs around the country, we like to involve the family in treatment. Not only are families going to affect a
person’s motivation and what we call cues to drink. Families can also give us information about
an individual that the individual may not be able to give us.
Dr. Linda Austin:
One of the things that you hear a lot, that I’d love for you to comment
on, is a family member who says, Oh, my sister, my husband, my son, whatever,
my uncle, was in treatment. We tried
treatment and it just didn’t work; he/she started drinking again. What do you say in response to that?
Dr. Sarah Book:
Well, alcoholism is a chronically recurring problem. Some individuals enter treatment and they are
able to maintain sobriety for 20, 30 years, or for the rest of their life. Then, for others, it’s just not as simple,
and they may need repeated attempts at treatment before they can find sobriety.
Dr. Linda Austin:
Dr. Sarah Book, thank you so much for talking with us today.
Dr. Sarah Book:
Thank you, Linda.
If you have any questions about the services
or programs offered at the Medical University of South
Carolina or if you would like to schedule an
appointment with one of our physicians, please call MUSC Health
Connection: (843) 792-1414.