THE CONDITIONED REFLEX TREATMENT OF CHRONIC ALCOHOLISM

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Abstract
There is no disease in the whole field of medicine that brings as much grief to the patient and his family as alcoholism. Judging from the literature1 the usual therapy, including amphetamine, vitamins, sedation, hospitalization and psychotherapy, is wofully inadequate. The only reliable report of the results of treatment in the entire medical literature shows not more than 15 per cent of 124 patients still abstinent at the end of eighteen months.2 Some alcoholic addicts are cured by religion3 and a few undoubtedly cure themselves. Our observations indicate that the therapy to be described in this paper is definitely superior to any previously used for the treatment of alcoholism. ETIOLOGY OF ALCOHOLISM The uninitiated think of alcoholism simply as a weakness of will power. The psychiatrist thinks of excessive drinking as a neurosis, but the usual treatment for neurosis is seldom effective. Aside from being somewhat temperamental,

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