Treatment for alcoholics in German speaking countries

This article was triggered by suggestions given by the editors of the British Journal of Addiction (Edwards, 1989). The main question addressed was: what do therapists really know and believe about how (alcoholic) patients are helped? In addition some more detailed issues were borne in mind, namely: the underlying philosophy of alcoholism (disease concept) and its treatment; patients' socio-cultural background and abuse practices; the special socio-cultural factors which influence the therapists' practice and patients' expectations; treatment goals and outcome definitions; the therapists' approaches to the patients' assessments; the treatment modalities (attempts to strengthen motivation; the form of initial contact, duration, termination and intensity of treatment).