[Individual multistage psychofilm treatment in a group of chronic alcoholic patients]

A short account of chronic alcoholism as a social and individual disease, and of the difficulties associated with its treatment, particularly as far as disaddiction is concerned, is followed by the description of a new method of psychotherapy, using psychofilms for the application of group hypnosis therapy covering a wide spectrum, based on reflexological premisses associated with behaviour therapy, backed up by techniques leading to reinforcement of the Ego. The method thus enables a polycentric approach to be made to the disturbances of the diseases and certain aspects of the patients' personality. Four stages in psychofilm management are described: conscious awareness, hypnotic induction, reinforcement of the Ego, and behaviour therapy. It is shown that films enable constant intervention on the part of the hypnotist to be dispensed with. A wide range of patients can be dealt with by applying standard techniques that are effective against various aspects of the psychopathological state in chronic alcoholism.