Locus of control in alcoholics and treatment outcome.

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Abstract
The Levenson Locus of Control (LOC) Scale was used to study the relation between LOC orientation and treatment outcome in 2 samples of male alcoholics in Veterans Administration programs: 40 inpatients treated with insight-oriented therapy in a rehabilitation program and 38 outpatients treated with behaviorally oriented therapy and disulfiram. Also examined were correlations between the LOC scores (internal control, control by chance, control by powerful others) and ratings on scales of depression, hopelessness and sociopathy in patients judged as treatment successes or failures on the basis of their continuance in therapy and living and drinking habits. According to LOC scores, belief in personal control of one''s life strengthened during the course of treatment of the successes in the inpatient group; these patients'' scores on control by change and control by powerful others were negatively correlated with hopelessness while the scores of failures in the inpatient program were positively correlated. In the outpatient group, treatment failures were significantly more chance-oriented than were the successes; as with inpatients, outpatient successes and failures differed in the relationship of hopelessness to belief in control of one''s life by chance.

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