Alcoholic Women’s Feminine Self-Concept and Mothering: The Importance of Reinforcing Self-Esteem in Treatment*

Abstract

A case study, “Enhancing Self-Esteem As a Strategy for Treating Female Alcoholics” (Alcoholism Treatment Quarterly, 7(3), 1990) applied specific psychotherapeutic interventions developed by Cleveland (1987) for self-esteem enhancement as a treatment method with a female alcoholic population. The approach was distinguished from Cleveland’s by its focus on the unique needs of female alcoholics in contrast with those of Cleveland’s co-dependent women. The model outlined also differed from Cleveland’s in being “inter-,” rather than “intra-” personal, providing the added therapeutic dimension of an ideal human relationship with the therapist. Optimally, this ideal relationship is modeled and extrapolated to other relationships outside the therapeutic interaction.