GROUP METHODS IN HOSPITAL ORGANIZATION AND PATIENT TREATMENT AS APPLIED IN THE PSYCHIATRIC TREATMENT OF ALCOHOLISM
H. WALTON M.D., D.P.M.1
1 Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry, University of Cape Town. Visiting Research Fellow, Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York.
1. A form of hospital treatment for alcoholism, providing short hospitalization followed by prolonged outpatient treatment is described.
2. A therapeutic hospital milieu results from techniques facilitating patient interaction; treatment intervention by the staff is also coordinated through group methods.
3. The patient effects identifications with fellow-patients, his re-socialization commencing with his recognition that inner stresses, which he can be helped to modify, have contributed to his drinking.
4. Small group techniques are an effective means of outpatient psychotherapy when the patient is beginning a sober working adjustment and forming new social relationships.
