A.A. and group therapy for alcoholics. An application of the World Hypotheses Scale.

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Abstract
Alcoholics Anonymous [A.A.] and group therapy have many features in common but they differ in the nature of the cognitive orientations [as measured on the World Hypotheses Scale (WHS)] that they usually employ for understanding the interpersonal world and explaining it to their members. The problem is identified and labeled as alcoholism and its causes are not pursued. The group therapy approach often seeks to explain behavior mechanistically within a framework of interpersonal dynamics. Because these cognitive orientations embody different premises for organizing perceptions and giving meaning to experiences, they conflict. The WHS was administered to 30 alcoholic patients (men, mean age 51.1), most of whom participated in both A.A. and group therapy while in the hospital, and to 17 A.A. members (men, mean age 46.7) to determine their preferred cognitive orientation. The scores for participation in group therapy and A.A. were then correlated with their WHS scores. Formistically oriented persons did better in A.A. and less well in group therapy than persons not thinking formistically. Although the reverse pattern did not hold for mechanistically oriented persons the group members preferring the mechanistic orientation were patients who disputed the therapists'' unpopular interpretations. Contextualistically oriented persons (who interpret an event subjectively, based on their own goals and conceptions) did relatively poorly in A.A. Implications are drawn for offering treatment services to alcoholics.

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