Abstract
For family therapists to better understand the maintenance of alcohol abuse it is necessary to arrange observations of alcoholic families into a conceptual model that offers integration with existing family theories. This article proposes a family progression model of alcoholism which is based on the problem-solving aspects of alcohol use for the relational needs of the family. The primary assumption is that the use of alcohol, when viewed as a family symptom identified by patterns of attempted solutions, can progressively serve as an organizing principle for families. The model suggests stages of family alcohol use as a means to conceptualize the process that increasingly shapes interactional patterns. The paper further discusses how the systemic view of progression can be used as a guideline in the assessment and treatment of alcohol abusing families.
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