Premium
Alcoholics’ Perceptions of Group Therapy and Alcoholics Anonymous
Author(s) -
Obitz Frederick W.,
Wood James D.,
Cantergiani Nick
Publication year - 1977
Publication title -
british journal of addiction to alcohol and other drugs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0007-0890
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.1977.tb00698.x
Subject(s) - alcoholics anonymous , group psychotherapy , chronic alcoholic , psychology , perception , clinical psychology , psychiatry , medicine , neuroscience
Summary Sixty‐four alcoholics were asked to rate their perceptions of group therapy and Alcoholics Anonymous on thirty variables. Data from half of the subjects were collected by a recovering alcoholic; data from the other half of the subjects were collected by a non‐alcoholic. When the recovering alcoholic served as experimenter, A.A. was rated as more socially desirable than group therapy and group therapy was rated significantly higher on negative attributes than A. A. When the non‐alcoholic served as experimenter, group therapy and A.A. were rated about equally. Subjects significantly reported to the recovering alcoholic that they preferred A. A. as the treatment of choice; conversely they reported to the non‐alcoholic that they preferred group therapy as the treatment of choice. The differences in alcoholics' perceptions of group therapy and A.A. were highlighted and discussed in terms of demand characteristics. How alcoholics perceived treatment was intimately tied to who did the asking.