The Meaning of Disulfiram to Alcoholics in Group Psychotherapy

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Abstract
Nine male alcoholics on disulfiram (antabuse) were followed for over one year in group psychotherapy. The therapy was psychoanalytically oriented. The group met once a week, for one hour. The overall goal was to rehabilitate these men. The specific aim was to determine the psychological meaning of disulfiram to alcoholics. The group method of psychotherapy was used to evaluate it as a form of therapy and because it was felt to be a means of learning of the meaning of disulfiram. The material from the group discussions was reviewed in bi-monthly meetings of the authors. It revealed that disulfiram has the quality of something received from the therapist which has the ability to control the impulse to drink. To those patients who were capable of a positive patient-doctor relationship it seems to be a good, protective agent. To those patients who were incapable of a positive patient-doctor relationship, or in whom it developed slowly it seems to be a focus of rebellion against authority. On this basis it is felt it can be hypothesized which alcoholic will do well on disulfiram and which one will do poorly. All of the men in the group but one are better off economically and socially than before. Five of them have remained dry continuously; one has had a single relapse; two have had several relapses; one of them ran away from treatment.

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