[Prognosis in treatment of addiction in alcoholics]

It is assumed by the author that the pre-addiction personality as well as probable events which could directly precede excessive drinking (understood even as a main cause) are, in the practice of a therapist, less important than the fact that a person who abuses alcohol will sooner or later complicate his or her life and arising difficulties will motivate per se his or her further drinking. Thus, reaching for alcohol activates a progressive rhythm which, with passing time, becomes autonomic against an individual genesis of addiction, and a difficult situation which an addict does not want or is not able to solve or does not understand at all that it results from an excessive drinking, becomes a crucial point. Therefore, the prognosis in treatment of alcoholics depends mainly on the patient's awareness of casual interrelationship between his difficult situation and excessive drinking. Following the studies of a large group of examined and treated alcohol addicts, "rather positive" prognosis applied to only 10% out of 718 persons while 40% remained with definitely "negative" prognosis.